I'll Do It
by LScore
Summary: [AU, ZoRobin & Sanami] Zoro was just going to blame Nami for all this. That she dragged him to a bar on a Saturday night when he'd rather be sleeping or training. That she wouldn't go home until he kissed a girl. And that now, he couldn't think of anything but that mysterious woman's lips!
1. That Smile - Zoro x Robin

I own nothing and make no profit off it. All credit goes to Oda-Sensei

* * *

"I'm not going."

Zoro felt the vein in his temple throb at those carefully articulated words. "Nami -"

"No!" The red-headed girl burst out, slamming her fist on the mahogany bar counter. Zoro sighed. There it was. Nami might seem like she could hold her liquor for a good, long time, but once she got hammered, she was impossible. And violent. And as Zoro had 6 am practice the next day, he just wanted to go home and sleep and not deal with her shit. Why were they friends again?

"Nami-" Zoro tried again, but got cut off by three more violent thumps on the bar. Zoro saw the bartender, a blond guy with a curly eyebrow , look over in their direction. He scowled. He didn't like the guy. The bartender had been eyeing Nami all night, and not paying attention to the absolutely gorgeous woman currently sipping from a mug, who the bartender had spent most of the night chatting up. Nami might be an annoying pain-in-the-ass, especially when she was drunk, but she was one of his closest friends, and best friends didn't let best friends get hit on by a two-timing bastard.

"No! Zoro! You need to get laid!" Nami articulated loudly and clearly, probably in an attempt to prove that she wasn't drunk. Unfortunately, she was a bit too loud and clear, because half the people around them turned to stare at her, and then at him. Zoro noticed that the bartender and his attractive partner were part of that group. "Zoro, you haven't even been kissed yet! You're an adult, we just graduated from University, hell, even Luffy has to have done something with Hancock! I'm worried about you, you big oaf!" She slumped back in her chair, and heedless of her large, now rapt, audience, burst into heaving sobs.

Zoro scratched his head, his ears now red with mortification. He knew this was coming from her own insecurities about her attractiveness to the other sex since she'd never kissed a guy either. He supposed Nami was hot, by most standards, but she'd been like a sister to him for the longest time, so he wasn't the best person to reassure her now. She'd be sorry about pushing this kissing nonsense on him in the morning once she wasn't hung over. But that was rational Nami, and this was drunk Nami, and drunk Nami was likely to cause an even bigger stir if he didn't play along. Ah hell, it was just a kiss.

"Fine, I got it. One kiss, and then we go home, right?" He leaned down, and glared at her, "but no more dramatics, okay? No one's going to kiss me if they think my angry girlfriend is yelling at me."

"Ew! I'm not his girlfriend!" She sat bolt upright to announce this to the bar, "He's just my - hic - best friend from elementary school! Someone else - hic - fix him!"

Zoro wanted to dig a hole and never come out, but gamely stood up to scan the bar for someone who would at least play along. The sooner he got this over with, the better. He almost wished that he hadn't, though. The guys were all looking at him with a mixture of pity and amusement, while many of the women and even some of the men were eyeing him with derision or a predatory gleam. He was feeling remarkably like a sheep who'd just been let loose in a paddock of wolves.

"I'll do it."

The faintly amused voice was mellow like honey and smooth like whisky, and Zoro felt every syllable shiver down his spine when he realized it'd come from the very attractive woman who'd been talking to that asshole bartender all night. Now that she'd stood up to approach them, he realized that she was tall, taller than he was and built like a model with strong yet delicate features and a beautiful mouth that held the secretive, confident smile of a woman who knew her place in this world. She looked so well put together, with only a single lock of her black hair falling into her face. Zoro didn't know why that smile turned him on so much or why he wanted to brush back her hair so badly.

"Excuse me?" Zoro said, and instantly wanted to kick himself. She was hot, he'd kiss her, yet he still had to open his big mouth.

"I'll do it. I'll kiss you, since your," she glanced at Nami and her lips curved a bit more, "best friend here insists."

"Uh, I -" he involuntarily glanced at the bartender, giving his thoughts away. She caught where his eyes went, and her slight smile turned into a full on grin,.

"Sanji-kun, could I please borrow your office?" She asked the blond man. Zoro was too startled by her grabbing his hand to protest. She winked at him, "We have a bit of an audience here."

"Sure, but -" the blond man said, but before he could finish his sentence, Robin was already dragging him along,

"Wait, Nami -" Zoro started to protest.

"Your friend?" She asked, then called over her shoulder, "Sanji-kun, could you please look after best friend-san over there please?"

"Wait a minute!" Now, Zoro really wanted to dig in his heels as she led him through the bar and into the back door where the kitchen staff were scurrying in and out, "I can't just leave her with him!"

The mysterious woman let go of his hand and turned to face him, "Sanji-kun is a gentleman. He won't do anything inappropriate to your friend, and he won't let anything happen to her either."

"Gentleman, don't make me laugh," he grumbled.

"Sanji-kun is also a bartender who doesn't want to lose his license, and he's working right now. She'll be fine," She smiled at him, and leaned closer to him, "Now shall we?"

Zoro felt his blush come back and creep up his neck again. This close, he could smell her hair, and she smelled really good, like coffee and old books.

"R-right here? In the hallway?" he stuttered. Hell, he would take her wherever, but he wasn't mentally prepared for it!

"Arara, impatient aren't you?" she leaned even closer. Zoro instinctively scooted back, until he felt his back hit the door. Her hand reached around him to open it, "this is Sanji's office."

Office was a bit of a generous description. It was really a broom closet with a tiny desk, two chairs, a filing cabinet and a printer crammed into it. There was very little light coming in from the barred window, and he could still here the hum of chatter and the clatter of pans from the kitchen, as well as the waitstaff calling orders back. He was grateful for the support of the desk as he propped himself against it, while she shut the door, and all of the sudden, when she turned around to look at him, the space felt much too small for them both.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Don't worry, it'll be quick and it won't hurt," She teased with that maddening, arousing half-smile on her lips again. God those lips made him think of naughty, naughty things.

"I'm not a quick fire!" He protested, then realized that he'd revealed how deeply his mind had been in the gutter when she burst out laughing again.

"it's just a kiss," She said, "It can go for as long or as short as you want it to. But do you want to?"

"I don't know, I've never done it before," Zoro muttered.

"I can just go out there and lie to your friend," she offered, "you don't have to kiss me."

"No, she'd be able to tell," He muttered, not looking at her.

"She's too drunk to notice right now, and I'm a good liar," she smiled.

"No... I... want to," He admitted almost too low to hear. He was too embarrassed to look at her to notice she'd closed the distance between them, so the first brush of those erotic lips across his caught him by surprise.

Is my breath fresh? Holy crap she actually went for it! He looked at her now, into those beautiful coffee coloured eyes that were still laughing at him. The touch had been so He felt the zing of electricity from that light brush run straight to his groin, and every whisper of her breath against his lips was like a caress that made his lips tingle in anticipation.

"Close your eyes," she whispered, before she tilted her head and closed that infinitesimally small gap between them.

Zoro wasn't sure he'd forgotten to breathe or their breaths had just melded. His eyes closed, and his world narrowed down to that one moment and her lips. She tasted like coffee and kahlua, and felt like someone was sending little jolts of electricity down his spine every time her lips caressed his slowly, coaxing him into a sensuous rhythm. Her lips were so soft, but firm, and he knew he should feel clumsy as they teased him into gasping, but at this moment, with her leaning over him, and her lips on his, he didn't care. He just knew he had to have more.

She broke the kiss briefly to catch her breath, but Zoro wasn't ready to let her go. His hands came off the desk, blindly grasping for her like a drowning man reaches for a life saver. One hand went to cup her chin to bring her mouth back to his, and one hand buried itself in the dark silk of her hair against the small of her back, reaching to draw her back into his arms again. She felt so right in his arms. This time it was him demanding, not knowing what he was asking for, His lips were clumsy, and desperately tried to find that sensual rhythm she had established before. When her hands came to cup his face, pushing him into just the right angle, and her lips coaxed his open again, he found that rhythm as old as time.

And groaned when he felt her gently nip at his swollen, oversensitive lower lip, and tease his tongue into the battle. He was drowning in sensation after sensation, touch after touch, tease after tease, but it was that smile that he felt against his lips that drove him crazy. He learned to match her rhythm, demanding more, teasing her. He didn't want to be the only left gasping for air, but at this point, he'd forgotten how to breathe.

This time, when she drew away, he didn't fight it. He was too dazed, too overwhelmed, and too, too hungry for more. He noticed with satisfaction that he wasn't the only one. She looked mussed and a bit out of breath as well, and her hand crept up to her face to touch her lips.

"Well, Kiss Virgin-san," She looked at him now with a full, beaming smile, "I don't think you need to be fixed at all."

Zoro was still a bit too dazed by her words to really register that she'd hurriedly opened the door and left until a new busboy dropped the pans in the kitchen. The loud sound jarred him awake, only for him to realize that he'd never gotten her name.

Stumbling to get his two feet under him again, he burst out of the hallway and into the open bar, frantically searching for that smile, those lips again...

Only to find no tall woman with the long black hair like silk, his drunken childhood friend sleeping at the bar, and a bartender with a curly eyebrow glaring at him.

"What did you do to Robin-chan?"

* * *

So this was supposed to be a one-shot, since I was reading a book where I liked the first scene with a similar concept, and then it went downhill quickly from there. But I feel like this would be a bit too cruel of an ending, no? So I think I'm going to keep going, and toss in a bit of Sanami for extra funsies. I've been playing with a lot of AU concepts lately, will have to flesh them out a bit later. The one thing I love in the One Piece universe is that I find them all so easy to imagine as friends, no matter who you lump together. The one thing is, I'm going to have to write some FroRobin soon, otherwise I'm going to get into a permanent ZoRobin bent! Please look forward to the next installment!


	2. That Morning After - Nami & Zoro

Nami was pretty sure light wasn't supposed to hurt this much. Four years of a science undergraduate meant she knew that photons were just overstimulating her optic nerves.

But god, the sunlight was stabbing her in the eyes.

She moaned. Then drew the covers over her head to block out the sound and the light.

She knew this feeling. The desire to hide under a blanket until light and sound stopped hurting so much, the insistent throb against her temples, and the nausea churning in the pit of her stomach...

_Oh no._

She threw back the covers and forced herself to open her eyes.

"I can't believe I got drunk again!" She moaned.

Her memories of last night were fuzzy, but she did remember one thing very clearly: insisting that Zoro kiss someone to the whole bar, then falling asleep mid-conversation with the cute blond bartender. Zoro must have carried her home, as he always had. Which means she cockblocked him!

"Urgh, what kind of wing woman am I?" She sighed.

"A bad one when you're drunk," The voice from the door made her wince.

"I'm so sorry, Zoro," Nami began, but he waved her off.

"Just don't drink so much next time," he said gruffly, moving into her room to hand her an opened Gatorade. Orange, her favourite.

"I'm done," she agreed fervently. She start taking long pulls of the fluorescent liquid.

"That's what you said after Rio and Carneval last year, and Oktoberfest the year before," Zoro grinned at her, "I still had to cart your drunk ass home."

"Maybe that's why I'm still a virgin," Nami muttered gloomily, staring at her drink. She was still in the tube top and miniskirt that she'd gone to the bar in. That was a relief. At least she didn't puke all over herself or Zoro last night.

Zoro gave her the look. Nami knew the look, and as always felt slightly abashed at the look. "I know, my self worth isn't determined by who wants to have sex with me. But you'd think I'd at least have someone by now."

Zoro raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I don't know who either, okay, but someone!" She threw up her hands in frustration, then sighed, "maybe I just have to meet new people."

Zoro gave a non-committal one shoulder shrug.

"Speaking of new people," Nami grinned despite herself, "how'd it go with that new person last night?" When Zoro didn't say anything, Nami actually stopped drinking her Gatorade for long enough to take a good look at her friend's face. He was blushing! Zoro, alternatively known as stoneface by their high school classmates, the devil face by their university groupmates, that hard-nosed asshole by his juniors in his kendo club, that Zoro - he was blushing!

"You're blushing!" Nami blurted out. Her grin now bloomed into a full, devious smile that sent shivers down his spine, "you really liked her!"

"Shut up, or I won't make you lunch." He retorted.

Nami snorted, "I'd rather go hungry. I still remember that abomination you called a sandwich, when you got lost in my damn spice cupboard. Seriously, who puts sugar in an egg salad sandwich?"

"It tasted fine!"

"If you have the palette of a five year old!" Nami and Zoro glared at each other, then burst out laughing at the absurdity of their situation.

"We've been friends for too long," Nami laughed, wiping her mouth.

"Who else would drag your drunk ass home?" Zoro retorted.

"I said I was sorry for getting in the way of your hot'n heavy potential last night!"

Zoro sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "It wasn't really a hot and heavy - dammit, Nami, that sounds really stupid to say."

"But you like her. And something happened. Otherwise you wouldn't be blushing," Nami pointed out.

"It was just a kiss," Zoro muttered.

"Ah-hah!" Nami grinned, pointing at him in triumph.

"But she left after the kiss, so that's that," he said tersely.

"She may have a good reason."

"Like a boyfriend?"

"She kissed you, didn't she? Do you want to see her again or what?" Nami asked.

"It's a big city," Zoro shrugged, "and I only have her first name."

"What is it?" Nami pushed.

"It doesn't matter!"

"Yes it does!"

"Why?"

"Because I haven't seen you actually take notice of a girl since Kuina in middle school! And that was only because she could knock you on your ass!"

Zoro sighed and rubbed the back of his neck impatiently. "That asshole bartender called her Robin, but-"

"Hey, if the bartender knew her name, she's probably a regular. Maybe we can go back to the bar and -"

"No, Nami," Zoro looked like he was about to say something, but decided against it. Instead, he said "Aren't you supposed to be a responsible adult now?"

"I'm a working member of society now, or will be next week. It just means I can't get keep getting into these scrapes, not that I can't go to bars," Nami sighed. "Although considering I struck out last night, maybe you're right. Maybe I'll meet a nice guy at work or something."

Zoro hrmphed. Nami looked at him and cocked a grin, "Well, introduce me to the cute guys at your new job then. Gym teachers can be cute."

Zoro snorted. Nami scowled at him, "I won't introduce you to any of the cute girls at my job then. I'll just tell them all about my rude childhood friend."

At that, Zoro just chuckled, and got up "Are you okay now? I'm going to head home if you are, I'm pretty beat from morning practice. I left your keys on the counter."

"Oh crap, what time is it?" Nami pulled out her phone and goggled at the display. She also noticed the three missed calls from Zoro, "crap, it's 1 in the afternoon! Have you had lunch yet? Stay, I'll make you something as a thank you for getting me home last night."

He squinted at her, "Aren't you hung over?"

Nami was rummaging around in her closet for something to change into, since she was still wearing her bar clothes, but she poked her head around to give him another look, "I'm ambulatory, and your alternative is whatever Usopp or Luffy would have come up with. You really want to say no?"

Zoro thought about his idiot roommates and decided Nami had a point. He grunted in acquiescence, turning towards her living room and her TV. On a thought, he turned around and asked "I don't have to pay for this, do I?"

Nami sighed. He was so untrusting sometimes.

Later, after Zoro had left (but only after her chores were done, and her lawn mown), Nami opened up her phone and started going through all the Robins nearby on social media. Zoro may have told her not to, but Nami couldn't let this chance for him just slip away. If he wasn't going to look, she'd do it.

* * *

Du na na na Nami's on the case! Will she be successful? Well, it's a fanfic, and I gotta shove them back together somehow. The fun is in the how, hehehe.

Hope you enjoyed this installment!


	3. That Agreement - Nami & Robin

"And this is your desk, Nami," Koala smiled at their newest hire, indicating a desk in a corner of the office. She would never have recognized the sloppily dressed and hungover girl from yesterday as the neat and shiny new grad before her. She approved of Nami's crisp collar and her eager smile, "IT will be by with a new mouse, but for now you should be able to get started with the orientation training. Then we have the welcome lunch."

"Thank you!" Nami bowed a little, then looked around. She noticed that besides Koala and her desks, there was a third desk that clearly looked occupied but didn't have a nameplate. "Er, will it just be us, or will my senior colleague be there?"

Koala hesitated, "Well-"

Just then, the door to the office opened and a dark head poked in with armfuls of papers. "Koala-chan, can you please-"

Nami was closer so she instinctively reached to help the tall woman by holding the door.

Only to feel her jaw drop when she came face to face with the woman behind the rolls of paper.

It was her! Zoro's mystery woman!

Nami may have been entirely soused the night before, but the woman's heavy lidded eyes and strong jaw were distinctive, as were the surprisingly lush lips. She should know, she spent the weekend combing through dating sites trying to find her face, checking every variation on the name "Robin." She'd had no luck. Plus, she saw the flash of shock and recognition in the other woman's eyes.

_Oh god, now my senior colleague knows I'm a terrible drunk. Whyyyyyyyyyyyy…_ Nami moaned to herself. But before she could say anything, the older woman recovered and fixed a smile on her face

"And who's this?" the older woman asked.

"Robin-chan!" Koala exclaimed, also coming over to help her with her papers. "I didn't know you'd be here today! Perfect timing though. This is our new colleague, Nami. You can join us for her welcome lunch."

"Sure, count me in if someone else is paying," Robin grinned. "I remember your resume now, Nami-san, was it? Nice to meet you."

"N-nice to meet you too," Nami stuttered.

"Robin-chan, since you're here, can you take Nami through the archives and walk her through the dig notes? She'll be flying on your behalf soon, so you're really the best person to get her up to speed."

Robin blinked at Koala, then narrowed her eyes, "My next batch of documents aren't ready yet, are they?"

Koala sweated, "Welllllllll…."

Robin sighed, "Fine. But only if you go harass Sabo for me."

"Thanks Robin!" Koala grinned triumphantly, throwing her arms around Robin's neck. "You're the bestest!"

"You should probably stop covering for that slacker, even if you guys did start together," Robin shook her head, but she hugged the younger woman back.

Nami was more than a little confused by the byplay, and Robin could see it on her face. She looked at Koala, "Did you explain her job to her?"

Koala blinked, "Well, I was going to go into more detail over lunch." She smiled sheepishly, "Sorry Nami, Robin will explain it all to you." So saying, she sprinted out the door, leaving both Nami and Robin staring open-mouthed after her.

"Really, that Koala!" Robin shook her head. Nami felt cold sweat bead on her forehead as the older woman eyed her assessingly.

"You just signed on to be a Cartographer here, right? Something to do with ancient history and interpreting clues from context and archealogical digs?" Robin asked, propping her hip against what must have been her desk.

"Yes, as far as I know. They did ask me if I was willing to travel when I interviewed," Nami responded hesitantly. They'd also asked her if she had any issues with phones or email. Nami, being a modern young person, had been a bit baffled by the question.

"Your primary job will be to maintain and use our time and space maps. We call them the Thousand SUN-E Map." Robin smiled, "Sociological Underground Network Electronic Map." At the blank stare Nami gave her, she smiled, "I don't know how we came up with that name either. It's our system that combines sociological data, archeological dig information, and network flow theory - all the information we get from the digs that the institute sponsors. Since so little is known about the Void Century, archeological evidence is our primary source, so your job is crucial."

Nami felt a thrill. This was exactly what she wanted to be doing.

Robin hesitated for a second before continuing, "I don't travel very well, I don't use phones and I don't like email. So your job will be to help me connect all these sites together, to convey information we receive from one grant site to another, and to use the Thousand SUN-E to help guide our field experts."

"M-Me? But I just graduated." Nami squeaked in surprise. It sounded like a lot of responsibility to put on a new hire.

"I read your resume. You came very highly recommended by your history professors and your cartography instructors. It's not a common combination." Robin smiled at her.

Nami's shoulders relaxed a little. "Thank you."

"Your job is important because even though each site will have its own experts, they tend to focus on their one site. We need breadth to crack the world's greatest archeological mystery," Nami had seen the glint in Robin's eyes before. Part madness, part genius, and part obsession, it could be very good, or very dangerous.

"But since I don't like email, I check it pretty rarely. I'm going to have to spend quite a bit of training time with you so you can understand how to write a good report," Robin smiled at her, "So, Nami, if you're willing to accept lots of hard work, high standards for pitiful non-profit wages, I look forward to working with you."

Nami hesitated, and then decided she'd go ahead and ask the potentially awkward question. However, she really wanted this job and she really didn't want Robin to second guess her.

"Robin, about last night at the bar-" She started, then broke off when Robin's smile stiffened, "Look, I promise I just want to get this out of the way, but-"

"Let's just pretend that never happened, okay?" Robin's words were kind, but her tone was firm.

"But-" Nami started, but broke off. What could she say? Her senior colleague was the only woman her idiot of a best friend had shown interest in in ages? It's not like Zoro had confessed his undying love or anything, and Robin didn't seem to want to talk about it. Nami may not seem like it, but she could be patient and play a long game. No point in scaring Robin off and making her job harder now.

"Okay, I'll do that," Nami smiled and offered her hand to shake "I look forward to working with you, too."

* * *

**AN:** ... and I'm... back? Kind of? Life caught up with me and then I got stuck on the monstrosity that is _Catch Me if You Can_ (new Sanami fic! I'm very proud of it). Which means of course, _Spoken from the Heart_ got delayed, and then... yeah life. It's a bit a quiet chapter, but it's important for future set up, so please bear with me! Even still, I hope you enjoyed it.


	4. That Set-Up - Nami x Sanji

Nami was running out of patience. It had been six months. SIX. MONTHS.

Six months of reading until her eyes bled. Six months writing reports until her fingers were sore from typing. Six months of staring at the screen trying to interpret whatever layers the SUN-E was sifting up today. Six months of the most professional growth she'd ever gone through thanks to her most favourite senior colleague, but also six months of getting just about nothing personal out of her. The most Nami had gotten was that Robin was single and NOT looking.

Nami wanted to bang her head on her desk. She was about to leave for her first site visit in two weeks, and she was no closer to getting Robin to do anything outside of work. She was running out of excuses and schemes, and it was driving her crazy, especially since she knew if the site visit went smoothly, Robin would go back to sporadically and unpredictably coming into the office, since she would feel Nami was capable of dealing with most things on her own. Even Koala had mentioned how surprising it was that the reclusive archaeologist turned up so often.

Nami wanted her senior colleague to be able to rely on her, but once Robin went back to her usual work from home schedule, her chances of setting up her bonehead best friend and senior colleague would be dramatically reduced. She slowly thunked her head on the desk.

Robin looked over at her from where she was working with several maps and books spread out in front of her. "Nami-chan, is everything OK?"

Nami blushed, embarrassed that Robin had caught her throwing a mental temper tantrum, "Yeah, I'm just a bit tired. It's been a long week."

"You should unwind," Robin smiled at her.

"I want to," Nami frowned, chin on her desk, "But I don't want a loud crowd, and I don't want strangers, but I don't want to be at home either, and all my friends already have plans." It was video game night. Nami always bowed out when they played video games, because the guys devolved to screen zombies.

Robin started to say something but hesitated. Nami looked at her, curious.

Robin took a breath, "Well, if you don't have any other available friends, why don't we go to the… the bar again? I should probably take you out before you go anyways. We can have a drink to send you on your way."

Nami sat straight up, "Really?" She looked suspiciously at her senior colleague. She'd made several overtures to her before, but had always been politely refused.

"Yes, really. Want me to change my mind?" Robin teased her back.

"No! Let's go, let's go!" Nami cheered, jumping out of her chair and rushing over to give Robin a hug. "Thank you Robin!"

Robin smiled at her exuberant coworker. "You still have two more dig data uploads to check before we can go."

"Urgh, yes Mistress," Nami teased back, "Give me two seconds, I gotta go to the bathroom first."

Nami snuck her phone out behind her back as she left their office. As soon as the door was closed, she hurriedly texted one of the guys she knew would be out with Zorro.

_Usopp. You know how you owe me for dinner two years ago? And how I have those pictures that you don't want Kaya to see? Well today's your lucky day…._

* * *

They'd already been at the bar for a couple of hours when Nami marveled at how well Robin was holding her drink. If she hadn't seen the four old-fashioneds Robin had been drinking, she'd never have guessed that she was on her fifth cocktail.

"So when you arrive at the Alabasta site, you may not want to mention my name to Ms. Nefertari," Robin wrapped up her story with a smile.

"Did you actually let her believe Pell had been shot? Who shoots at archaeologists?" Nami asked, incredulous.

"Grave robbers. There was a fairly nasty one operating near the Alabasta site that year," Robin's face was dark. "And I had different priorities."

Nami burst out laughing. "You just wanted to make her squirm."

Robin shrugged with a smile, "She would have found out the truth when she reached the hospital."

Nami just shook her head. Robin really had a morbid side sometimes. She took another long sip of her beer before taking a casual look around. They were tucked away in the corner of the bar where they had a reasonable degree of privacy, but still a fairly good view of both the entrance and the door to the kitchen.

Nami saw Robin watching her, and she smiled, "I'm just thinking this is a good table. I'm surprised we got it."

"Sanji-kun is the Manager. He kept it for me when I told him we were coming tonight," Robin smiled.

Nami raised an eyebrow and looked over to where the blond haired man was working the bar with effortless grace, flirting with the female customers, and apparently totally ignoring their table. She swore she'd felt a pair of eyes on her nape all night though.

"How did you meet Sanji-san?" Nami started to ask, but Robin suddenly looked up and interrupted her by pointing to someone across the bar.

"Isn't he a friend of yours?" Robin asked, tipping her chin. Nami turned and blinked in surprise. _Took Usopp long enough._

"Zoro, Luffy, Usopp!" She waved at them. Zoro saw them first, and Nami hid her grin when he saw his eyes track right past her to her companion. The three of them saw her, raised a hand to acknowledge her, and made their way towards Nami.

"Nami!" Luffy cheered, throwing his arms in the air, "Didn't think we'd see you tonight."

Nami smiled sweetly, but she wanted to stick a fork into Usopp's hand. Could he be any more obvious? Zoro, of course, was casting dark, suspicious glances in her direction, but that she expected. "I didn't think you guys would be pried away from your video games all night. Isn't it games night?"

"We lost all power at the house… so we figured we'd come to the bar to watch the game," Zoro eyed Nami suspiciously.

"That's so weird!" Nami raised an eyebrow. Scratch that, Usopp was more resourceful than she expected. If only he had a better poker face.

"Yeah, but it doesn't look like there's anywhere to sit," Luffy frowned, looking around.

"You can just join our table," Robin offered. Nami was startled, until she saw the knowing smirk on the older woman's face. Nami would've blushed if she wasn't so good at poker.

"Really?" Usopp looked at her suspiciously.

"We've got plenty of space," Robin smiled.

"Whoo-hoo! Thanks!" Luffy cheered and plopped down beside Nami in their booth. Usopp sat down next to him, which left Zoro to sit next to Robin. He hesitated, when Luffy noticed him "what are you waiting for, Zoro?"

"Nothing," Zoro muttered and sat down, a faint blush on his face.

"Robin, this is Luffy and Usopp, and the lunk sitting next to you is Zoro," Nami introduced them, "Robin is my coworker."

"Nice ta meetcha!" Luffy grinned.

"Nice to meet you," Usopp added.

Zoro grunted.

Robin smiled, surveying them all, "Nice to meet you all too."

"I'm hungry!" Luffy declared and grabbed the menu, "what's good?"

"I could do with a beer," Usopp surveyed the drinks menu over Luffy's shoulder, "hey Nami, could you grab me one?" Nami read the implicit threat in Usopp's eyes and gritted her teeth.

"Vodka," Zoro added, full on glaring at her. Nami wanted to wince when he added "Grey Goose."

"I'd appreciate another glass," Robin added as well, gesturing with her empty cup.

Nami stared at them all, then gave up and sighed, "fine,"

"Oh, get me a beer and a plate of meat nachos. With extra meat!" Luffy cheered.

Nami wanted to smack him, but instead shoved Luffy and Usopp out of her side of the booth on her way out. The other two, who were used to her rough treatment, merely rubbed their arms and returned to their seats when she got out.

"So what do you do, Robin?" Nami heard Usopp ask.

"Assassinations," Nami nearly choked at her response before she reached the bar and was out of earshot.

_Robin would be fine with her friends_, Nami grinned. She prepared to turn on all of her charm on the cute bartender, only to reach the bar, find him waiting for her on the other side of the bar, and see him glowering at her.

"Can I get a plate of nachos con carne, with extra meat, a mimosa, two beers, a shot of Grey Goose, and another Old Fashioned?" Nami ordered tentatively. The bartender only nodded shortly at her, entering something in the terminal and turning away rather abruptly. Nami stared. He'd spent all night ogling her, so what had crawled up his butt in the past five minutes?

Nami scrolled through her phone while she waited for her order to be ready. It took some time, because she had to fend off two pairs of grabby hands and a drunk who wouldn't take no for an answer. When she finally had some time to look through her cute cat memes in peace, a cough startled her to look up at the cute but grumpy bartender.

"Sanji was it?" Nami asked hesitantly. He was holding a mimosa out to her.

"And you're the best friend?" The curly browed bartender responded as she took the drink.

"Whose…" Nami blinked until she thought of a night six months ago.

_"Ew! I'm not his girlfriend! He's just my - hic - best friend from elementary school! Someone else - hic - fix him!"_

_Oh god, I was so drunk that night_, Nami wanted to bury her head under the bar, so her response was a bit defensive, "So what if I am?"

"You didn't have to bring your best friend here again after what he did to Robin-chan," Sanji crossed his arms.

"What do you mean by that, eh? Say what you mean, hot stuff."

"I'm just saying, you might not remember -"

"Look Mister, I might've been drunk that night, but I remember that Robin made a move on him first!"

"Don't call me Mister, I'm only 25!"

"Well, you're acting like a narrow minded old fuddy duddy!"

"You're acting like a nosy busybody!"

"I'm a busybody?"

"Yes, you are! You obviously schemed to get them in the same place again!"

"I did no such thing." Nami felt her pants light on proverbial fire.

"Of course you did," the curly-browed bartender scoffed at her. Nami felt a little called out that a total stranger could see through her so easily.

"Oh my god, they kissed! And apparently enjoyed it!" Nami rolled her eyes, "what's the big deal in getting them to see each other again?"

"You-," Sanji scowled at her. "Robin ran out that night in a big hurry! She's never done that before."

"Well, she's not running away now!" Nami retorted.

"Oh yeah? She's not there any more!" Sanji jerked his thumb towards her table.

"What?!" Nami turned quickly and scanned the table she'd just been sitting at, and grinned when she realized something.

"What?" Sanji had a bad feeling when he saw the look on her face.

"Zoro's not there either."

* * *

Is this still a ZoRobin fic? Why yes it is, my lovely, patient readers. Am I cruel to leave you on a cliffy like this? Absolutely! I promise I will make it all up to you... next week. Muahahaha! Also thank you to all the lovely readers who have left comments saying they're glad to see this fic being updated again - when I picked up this fic after a long hiatus, I felt a lot like a kid sneaking back into her parents' house after curfew.


	5. That Chance - Robin x Zoro

Robin had never really been a morning person. There was a reason she drank so much coffee. But on mornings like today, when her bed was so warm, and soft, and cuddly, and held her so sweetly...

Robin's eyes blinked open. Holding her? So sweetly? Her bed did not have arms.

"Up?" A gravely male voice still groggy from sleep murmured close to her ear. She could feel his breath on her ear, could nearly feel his lips touch his ears.

"Mmmmm..." Robin drew out the syllable, trying to see where she'd awoken. Even though she was nearly blinded by the light peeping in through the blinds, she could see how small, spartan and messy the room was over the soft blue comforter tucked up to her chin. Her heart beat in time with his, cradled as she was against a firm, very delicious muscled chest. From where her nose nestled into the strong curve of his shoulder, a comforting masculine scent wrapped around her. Careful fingers softly stroked the small of her back, sending little shivers of pleasure where they brushed against her. Cuddled up against him, she had never felt quite so ... cherished before.

She felt odd at the scrape of rough hair against her smooth calves as she tried to detangle her legs, until she nudged -

Oh. Oh boy. Was that -

"Robin..." the male voice near her ear nearly groaned, "Maybe... don't move so much."

Embarrassed, Robin immediately froze, but the man holding her buried his head against her shoulder. She saw his face, and her heart gave a thump. She couldn't help herself; she just had to reach out to touch the face that had been haunting her at night when her guard was down.

"I'm sorry, Zoro." She finally said.

All of a sudden, she felt him jerk his head away from her. His dark eyes were wide open and a vivid, vibrant blush bloomed on his face. "This... is not a dream?"

Robin felt a pang in her chest at his rejection. She withdrew, wrapping her arms around herself, which made her realize something very important.

They were both totally, utterly, as-if-they'd-been-born-yesterday naked.

Zoro seemed to realize this as well, because his eyes immediately went anywhere but her. Oh god, how many old fashioneds had she drunk last night. She couldn't have... But if they were naked...

Robin wanted to dig a hole and not come out, but she was so comfortable in his arms that she didn't have the energy to. The only thing she could do was wrap her tattered dignity around her in a protective layer.

"Ah, I guess, we... last night," She stuttered, then paused, "I'm sorry." She whispered lamely.

"Sorry?" That made Zoro look at her in puzzlement.

Robin stared at him. Surely he understood that when two people were naked together in bed...Robin didn't want to be more explicit, "Was it your first time? I'm sorry it was with an old lady like me."

Zoro turned even redder if that was possible, "I-I-It was, b-but, I mean, oh-" He bit off his stuttering exasperatedly, then rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.

Robin felt worse and worse as he stumbled. Her heart curled up defensively in her chest and her face burned as well. Suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but here, so she started to push the blanket away and get out of bed.

"No! Wait, please." Zoro stumbled, sitting up to catch her hand and accidentally causing her to fall onto his chest. "I- You- We-... We didn't actually ... do anything last night." He admitted between gritted teeth, mouth beside her ear.

Robin froze in the particularly vulnerable position. She did, however, get a good look at the room now, and saw the pile of dirty clothing covered in vomit in the corner.

"Oh." Now she really wanted to die of embarrassment.

"You... ah, had a bit too much to drink, so you started uhm... taking your clothes off... And then you..."

"Oh my god," She buried her head against his shoulder, "I threw up on both of us, didn't I?"

She felt him nod against his hair. "And my laundry pile. Sorry. That was probably what triggered it."

She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She was sure the sex could have been fantastic, but after that display, he probably would never find her sexy again.

"I'd like to, though." Robin felt him mutter it rather than heard him. Her heart thumped in her chest.

"What?" She pulled back to look at him,

"Wh-when you're not... you know. Drunk," Zoro blurted out. He looked away, "I-if you wanted to, at least. I understand if you don't."

Hope blossomed in her chest, along with the ever-present crippling fear that she lived with as a daily companion. "Th-this kind of thing, you should save it for someone who you really l-love." She tried to smile brightly at him, but didn't know that her smile was so wistful it nearly broke Zoro's heart.

He couldn't help it. He reached out to her, gently stroking the side of her face with his knuckles. For the life of him, he didn't know why he touched her, besides some half baked thought that he wanted to rub the sadness off her face.

They sat like that for a minute, her clutching his blankets to her, and him sitting naked an arm's length away. She was so beautiful, Zoro thought. Her laugh had haunted him for the past six months, even as he'd buried himself at work. He barely knew the woman, besides the fact she had a wicked sense of humour and she was an amazing kisser. But still...

"I wanna try," he said abruptly.

"Try?" Her eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"Yeah. I wanna try... this. Us," He reiterated, growing more sure with every word he said. When she still stared at him dumbfounded, he elaborated, still red, "I'm saying that I want to take you out for dinner, coffee, or whatever. Whatever you want."

"Dinner?" She repeated. Zoro felt his heart sink.

When Zoro asked her out, Robin felt her heart leap. She barely knew this man, but his adorable scowl and his clumsy passion had struck a chord with her. But there was her situation...

"I don't like phone calls. I don't have a phone and I don't do social media. I have an email I check, but very rarely," She admitted, bracing for the rejection. She held her breath.

"So?" Zoro asked, not understanding the problem.

"Getting in contact with me is hard. You can't miss a date with me, because you'll just never find me again to schedule the next one."

"So I just won't miss a date with you."

Robin nearly gaped at him. Normally when she told people about her lack of communication devices, they got really weirded out by it and couldn't ditch her fast enough. This guy not only accepted it, he didn't even ask why. She wasn't ready to tell him yet.

"Dinner?" Zoro prompted. When she still didn't say anything, Zoro scrubbed a hand over his face, "look, I know we barely know each other, but I just haven't been able to stop thinking of you. If you'd rather not-"

Robin cut him off, "Okay."

"Okay?" Zoro couldn't believe his ears.

Robin let the blanket fall and shifted nearer to him, cupping his cheek hesitantly. "Yes. Let's do it. Let's get dinner. Let's get coffee. Let's do whatever. Let's explore this ... Thing between us." Hesitantly, she admitted, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you either."

Her words made his heart overflow. Instead of saying anything, Zoro leaned down and sealed the deal with a hard kiss.

* * *

**AN:** Shout out to Corru from the r/fanfiction discord for helping me get the snugs juuuust right. Did you think they were going to do the deed? Not yet! Hehehe... Still going to tease you with fluff for a bit. This is, after all, an T rated fic, and will stay T-rated (although I might do outtakes, but I said that about Sweets Romance and never got around to it. Lemon Romance is still a good idea though. Will breed the plot buns). I hope you enjoyed the fluff! Please look forward to more next week!


	6. That Dinner, Coffee, and Whatever

Robin was late.

Zoro tried to play it cool, but his fingers gave him away by tapping an anxious beat on the table he'd reserved for them. He'd been extra careful to arrive on time, even bribing Nami to order his taxi for him.

He wondered if she'd changed her mind and decided not to date the weird younger guy. That was probably it. Who could blame her, really? And who chose a dump like this for a first date? Especially with such a stunning, sophisticated older woman. He was terrible at this whole romance nonsense, he really should just -

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Just when he was about to beat himself up, Robin blew through the door of Camie's Crab Shack, all swirling black hair and flushed rosy cheeks. She spotted him from across the tiny restaurant and waved to him, warding off the hostess who was about to intercept her.

"Don't worry about it," A wave of relief washed over Zoro. She was here! She looked stunning in a short-sleeved blue zip up and a long tropical patterned skirt. He suddenly felt underdressed in his standard, off duty uniform of jeans and a white t-shirt. She dropped into the seat in front of him and beamed a warm smile at him. It twisted his tongue up.

"Sorry, the wine might be a bit warm," Zoro apologized and instantly wanted to smack himself. He couldn't start with something a bit more smooth? Like how beautiful she looked? Instead, he had to remind her that the glass of wine that had been sitting across from him had been sitting there for twenty minutes.

"My bad," She teased him, not at all offended, "Someone told me the crab shack was on the west side of town, which is fairly close to where I live, so I planned accordingly."

"Isn't it?" He blinked at her.

"This is the East side, Zoro."

Zoro flushed. He wanted to go find a hole to disappear into, but he was on a date, so he just coughed, "Sorry about that. I have a terrible sense of direction."

"Ufufu," She laughed quietly, "It's okay, but next time I get to choose the location."

Surprised, he looked at her. _Next time?_ A warm feeling bloomed in his chest. Maybe he hadn't totally ruined this date before it started.

_Ara, he's adorable._ Robin got distracted by the quirk of his lips. She wanted to reach over and trace the curve of his lips, but picked up the wine glass instead, and took a larger mouthful. _Calm down, Robin. You've already thrown up all over him, you can't freak him out here._

"So, you're okay with crabs, right?" Zoro asked, desperately searching for a topic.

"Mhmm," Robin replied, "Otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to a date at a crab Shack." She smirked at him.

"Right," Zoro sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. _Would it be too awkward to commit seppuku on a date?_ He could probably manage it with the butter knife.

"But I've never actually tried it before, so you'll have to show me how," she took pity on him. He really was adorable when he was flustered.

"Of course," turning, he caught the eye of the pretty brown haired waitress, "Rika-chan, can we get three pounds of crab and some buttered corn?"

"Sure thing, Zoro-kun. You want more wine?"

"Just give us the bottle," she nodded when he looked at her to confirm.

"Zoro-kun, eh?" She raised an eyebrow, "Do you come here often?"

"It's one of Luffy's favourite places," he responded, blushing a little. "That's how he chose our place, actually. We came here for lunch when we were getting ready to move here. Luffy said he wanted to be close enough to eat here every day, which drove Nami crazy because she wanted to live closer to downtown. Luckily, the owner was there that day, and Camie's husband knew a guy who was renting out a three-bedroom townhouse a five-minute walk away, and Camie showed us a boutique shopping street nearby, so Nami was happy. We moved here together and we come here for lunch or dinner regularly." Zoro stopped abruptly, kind of surprised by his own loquacity. Exactly how much wine did he drink before she got here? God she must have been so bored with this story.

Contrary to his expectations, though, Robin was listening attentively. "So you've known each other from University?"

"Grade school, actually," he admitted, "It's a miracle we managed to all end up in the same place."

"I'm jealous," Robin said, taking him by surprise, "I wish I had such long friendships."

"They're kind of a pain in the ass," Zoro snorted, "See, Nami six months ago."

"You're not saying you're unhappy with the outcome, are you?" Robin said with a small grin.

Zoro nearly bit his tongue off. "No! That's not it! I'm - that is - I'm very happy. Oh, dammit." He covered his face with his hands.

"Zoro," Robin smiled at him, reaching across the table to rub one of his hands. "I'm very happy with Nami's nonsense as well."

Zoro looked up at her, startled, then his ears turned red. The awkwardly sweet moment was broken when the waitress that Zoro had called Rika-chan coughed beside them, making them jump apart guiltily.

"Three pounds of crab and some buttered corn. And here's your bottle of wine," She said with a small smirk on her lips, placing the food in front of them, then winked. "And a plate of oysters on the house. Camie-san sent them. Y'all are going to need some napkins as well."

Zoro obviously didn't understand, but Robin did. Now she was the one blushing!

"Thanks, Rika-chan," Zoro said, then looked at her, "Everything okay, Robin?"

"Yes! Yes, everything is perfectly fine. Thank you!" She coughed and smiled at the waitress with a red face. Rika smiled knowingly at both of them and left.

"Are you sure?" He asked, concerned, "Maybe we should-"

"No, no! Thank you, I'm fine," She waved his concern away, "Show me how to eat these crabs."

Even though Zoro might not be very good at the whole dating thing, he was excellent at the food thing. He showed Robin how to crack the crab shall and fish out the meat. Robin was soon sacrificing her dignity and threw away her tiny fork to dig around the carapace with her fingers.

As they enjoyed their seafood feast, the conversation flowed like the wine. Robin learned that this grumpy man was a High School Kendo coach, a shoo-in for the National Olympic team, and basically spent all his time on his craft. When she asked him what his hobbies were, he had to think long and hard before he could finally come up with "...Practicing? No, buying swords." He looked embarrassed to admit that he was so single-minded, but Robin, being her own kind of fanatic, could recognize and admire another kindred soul.

From the second night at Sanji's bar, Zoro had figured out that Nami and Robin worked together, but now that he connected the dots between Nami's much admired supervisor that she'd talked about for the past six months (he still had to interrogate her about that) and Robin, he was even more impressed by the woman in front of him. When Nami talked about her job, he listened because they were friends but wasn't that interested. Robin, on the other hand, talked about her vocation like a zealot talked about their cult, and Zoro found himself fascinated, even if he couldn't care less about history. From there, they moved to talking about Nami and comparing notes over her sneakiness. Zoro had been worried about Nami's first international business trip, but seeing Robin's confidence in his best friend, he felt more reassured. He also found himself freely telling stories about their childhood adventures, spinning out tales just to see if he could make her smile. As he talked, she had shifted from the seat across from him to the one beside him so she could look at the pictures on his phone (that Nami had taken and posted on Social Media) of his friends through the ages.

By the time he had her in giggles over Luffy's adventures in a barrel down at the Marina, night had fallen and the restaurant had emptied out. They both only noticed when Camie herself came by to give them a coffee for Robin and some strawberries for dessert.

"I didn't realize it was so late," she smiled, picking a strawberry from the bowl, "This was fun." They were sitting so close, her shoulder bumped against his companionably.

"Aa," Zoro muttered noncommittally, suddenly feeling reluctant to let the night end. To hide his feelings, however, he took a large strawberry from the bowl and bit into it, accidentally spraying them both with juice.

Robin tried to dodge but didn't succeed. Zoro, on the other hand, just wanted to commit seppuku, but Rika hadn't left them the butter knives for dessert. Robin didn't look too bothered by the mess, though, only laughing as she picked up a napkin to clean them both up with.

Her hand froze when she went to wipe Zoro's face first, though. Instead of the grumpy irritation, she expected from him, he looked more humiliated and vulnerable. It made what she'd notice a few times in the evening come to the forefront: Zoro was insecure about their age gap. If she tried to do something intimate like a girlfriend would, he'd misinterpret it into her trying to mother him and that would ruin the rapport they'd built this evening.

Zoro looked into her eyes as she reached for him. He could see the affection she had for him and felt even worse when he realized she understood his insecurities. He cursed inside. That was his crap to deal with, not hers, although he would appreciate the empathy and understanding later. Right now, he just wanted to recapture the magic they'd been spinning all evening.

He picked up his own napkin, and grinned at her, "Here," He reached for her, but instead of wiping her lips with the napkin, he used it to shield their faces while his tongue swiped the tiny splatters of strawberry juice from the corner of the lips. Robin was stunned by the brief touch, so much so that she didn't have any defenses against the tingles that shivered down her spine, and Zoro took advantage of her distraction to steal a longer, more demanding kiss, tangling his tongue with hers. It tasted like strawberries and coffee.

"Mm, that's bitter," He said, drawing back. He only showed his usual deadpan expression, but Robin could sense the glint of mischief in his eyes.

"In that case, don't kiss me again," She retorted, drawing away from him. "You don't like coffee?"

"Mmm, nope, I'm more of a pop guy," his face was inches from hers, "But I could learn to like it." He leaned in for another kiss.

* * *

Robin wasn't punishing Zoro, exactly, for his shamelessness at the end of their first date. Even if the infuriating man had kissed her silly in front of the restaurant staff, all in the name of "trying" coffee. Besides, it was her turn to choose a date spot, and she chose this one. Her favourite coffee shop made quite an excellent blond roast, perfect for beginners who didn't like the classic dark roasts, and it was attached to a bookstore. She could tell a lot from a person by what they liked to read.

She'd arrived early and claimed a seat on the terrace under a huge umbrella. She wasn't expecting Zoro to arrive for another twenty minutes; she wanted a chance to marshall her defenses and corral her thoughts. That man may look blase, but when he wanted something, he'd drag her into his rhythm. She was supposed to be the older one; never mind she didn't have any dating experience whatsoever.

Still, she couldn't focus on her perfectly good book, constantly looking up so she wouldn't miss him when he arrived. Ten minutes later, when she saw a curly green head stop at the door of the coffee cum bookshop… and promptly turn to cross the street, she giggled and knew her watch had paid off. How was his sense of direction that bad? Nami had warned her, but still!

"Zoro!" She stood up and waved to him before he took the first step into the small town traffic.

She wasn't calling very loudly, but he still somehow managed to hear her, turning a full one-eighty. While he didn't smile or anything extravagant like that, Robin's breath caught when she saw how his eyes lit up as they found her. He walked over, holding eye contact.

"Hi," He said, finally giving her that shy half quirk of his lips she found so endearing.

"Hi yourself," She gave him her full wattage smile just to see how he'd turn crimson. He didn't disappoint.

"So uh, book store?" He coughed, turning away from her to look up at the building. He looked a bit apprehensive.

"They specialise in literature and lattes," She smiled, "It's one of my favourite places. Come on," Because she just knew from the look on his face that he wanted to run away, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. Zoro had no choice but to follow. He was glad she couldn't see how red his face was.

However, when they got inside, Robin promptly dropped his hand and smiled at him, "I'm going to go to the back to pick up something I ordered last week. Just browse around until I'm done, okay?" Before he could object, she breezed off, greeting the barista behind the espresso machines before disappearing behind one of the many higgledy-piggledy bookshelves.

Zoro was left to stand there, feeling like an idiot entirely out of his depth. He did know that the barista that Robin had waved to was giving him the stink eye, so he couldn't continue to hover awkwardly. Well, since he was here, he should probably at least take a look around, right? He couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to a bookstore.

The place felt like an honest to goodness relic, one that hadn't been organized in ages. The bookstore portion of the shop was shoved in the back with no light, and the books themselves were shelved in categories on one of the many antique or askew shelving units. Within those categories, Zoro couldn't make heads or tails of the order of the books. Furthermore, the categories weren't logically placed together. The enormous coffee counter sat in the middle of the whole place, a bit incongruous with all the whistling shiny chrome machines and an enormous chalkboard that was crammed full with an eye-wateringly elaborate coffee menu. Beside the window, a few small tables with mismatched padded chairs upholstered in faded pink velvet were bathed in sunlight.

Zoro wandered over to the comic bookshelf, which just happened to be right next to the classic literature shelf and three rows away from the adventure shelf. In the mess of titles, one familiar one caught his eye, so he picked it up to start flipping through it. He soon became engrossed in the story, so much so that he didn't notice Robin returning until she put a hand on his forearm.

He jumped and wanted to shove the book away in embarrassment at being caught reading a comic book. He wasn't 12 anymore, after all. He didn't see her smirking at his childishness, though. Instead, she peered over his shoulder at the book and smiled in genuine delight.

"I love the Koby-Meppo series," She smiled. "I didn't realize there was a new volume."

Zoro blinked, "You read comic books?" He couldn't help asking. Somehow, he saw her more as a classic literature and historical fiction reader.

"If they have good stories, sure. I have the whole series at home," She tapped her finger on his book. "Are you going to read it today? The cafe will let you borrow a book from the shelf while you're drinking your coffee."

Zoro shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

"Good," She smiled at him, "I still need to choose something to read here. Let's see…" She started scanning the classic literature shelf and muttering to herself until she saw something that made her eyes light up again. "Chaucer! I could be in the mood to read Chaucer again. I see that no one's bought the Modern English version of the Canterbury Tales yet. Maybe I should..."

Zoro gave her the side-eye. This woman really had the weirdest taste in books - first, a comic book meant for twelve-year-olds, and now something that needed a Modern English version? "You mean like a readable Shakespeare?" Zoro asked.

Robin gave him the stink eye right back. "Believe it or not, Shakespeare's still considered Modern English. Chaucer is Middle English."

"Is that a different language? What's wrong with plain English?" Zoro asked, aggrieved.

Robin laughed, "It's really not that bad. Look, read this." She flipped through the book until she found a page, and opened it so he could only see the middle English page. Zoro frowned at it, not making heads or tails of it, until she prompted him, "read it out loud."

Slowly, he started, sounding each word slowly…

"He was, I trowe, a twenty wynter oold./  
And I was fourty, if I shal seye sooth./  
And yet I hadde alwey a coltes tooth./  
Gat-tothed I was, and that bicam me weel./  
I hadde the presente of Seinte Venus seel./  
As help me God, I was a lusty oon"

He broke off when she started giggling uncontrollably, bewildered. His eyes narrowed when even the guy behind the counter started to cough, and he became extremely suspicious when Robin whisked the book shut and tucked it under her arm, still chortling helplessly.

"What did I just read?" Zoro growled, "Tell me!"

"You have to promise not to kill me. Or yourself," she managed to get out.

"Robin…."

"Promise!" She insisted.

"OK fine!" He ground out, exasperated. This was the awkward thing about wanting to date someone. He couldn't just beat them into submission like he could with his best friends. Even he knew that.

She handed him the book, this time not covering the modern English translation, still grinning like a maniac, and watched him read it. The look of horror that slowly crept over his face as he read further and further down the page was a thing of beauty. When he reached the bottom, he flipped a page and kept reading, still horrified, still fascinated, much to Robin's amusement. Even his ears turned red.

Eventually, he looked up. "This is literature?"

"One of the seminal works of Middle English," She grinned, taking her book back from him.

"I… OK," Suddenly he felt a lot less self-conscious about the comic book he was holding. If that was considered literature….

"Do you want to get something to drink now? They have an excellent light roast, you should try it," She took his hand again.

Zoro smirked, remembering the last time he'd tried coffee. Robin caught the look on his face and frowned a little at him. "This time you try it from the cup."

He let out a small huff as they reached the counter. The green-haired Barista with the funky hairstyle balefully eyed their linked hands. If the guy hadn't been at least old enough to be Robin's grandfather, Zoro'd've wondered if he had a love rival in front of him.

"Clover-san, thank you for the books," She smiled at him.

"You're welcome, Robin my dear. Don't read them with your coffee, in case you spill something on them and make them illegible. They were hard to find." He admonished her, still side-eyeing their hands. Something about his look just made Zoro want to piss him off. He laced his fingers with hers in a lover's hold.

Robin looked a bit surprised but pleased. Clover glowered at him. Zoro didn't care.

"What's good, Robin?" He asked, deliberately dropping the honorifics, "Can I just get a soda here?"

"At least try the light roast. It's fruity with caramel and tonka bean notes."

"Sounds kind of girly," Zoro snorted.

"What did you say, boy?" Clover growled. That got Zoro's back up.

"I said it sounds kind of girly, old man, do you have a problem with that?"

"Ara, Zoro-"

"Fine then! If you're so manly, I'll give you my blackest brew!" In a huff, Clover started banging around in the cupboards.

Robin gave Zoro a specific look when Clover's back was to them. Zoro knew this one. Nami gave him this one often enough. It meant "take it back and make it better." Like he often did with Nami, he ignored it.

"Here," A few minutes later, Clover slammed two cups in front of them. One was Robin's. The other was… sludge. Zoro could only pick it up.

"Thanks, Clover," Robin smiled, handing over a five-dollar bill. He looked like he was about to open his mouth to object, but she gave him the look, too.

The old man shut his mouth.

They went back to the patio outside, mostly to get away from Clover's dagger-like stares. Wordlessly, they settled down to read, but as time passed, and Robin sipped away at her coffee, Zoro started to feel guilty about the cup he hadn't bothered to touch when she kept looking over to see if he'd actually drank it. He stared dubiously at the tar that Clover had claimed was coffee, and was starting to regret his big mouth as well.

"Do you want to switch for my girly coffee?" Robin asked with a mocking smile. Zoro looked at her dolefully, but he shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the cup and down the whole thing in one awful, endless, thick, bitter gulp. It tasted like lukewarm, stale gasoline and left the after taste of regret.

"Arara," A smile quirked up the side of her mouth. "How is it?"

Zoro couldn't respond, just shook his head with his tongue hanging out to try to get the taste out of his mouth. Robin finally laughed and reached over to grasp his chin. "Here, let me-"

This time it was her turn to kiss him brainless, in the middle of a quiet side street, in front of her favourite coffee and book store. Her lips were soft, but her tongue was ruthless, plundering his struggling mouth like a pirate and stealing his breath. When he gasped for air, she drew back and smiled deeply into his eyes, "It's not so bad like this, is it?"

Zoro stared at her, a bit befuddled, then reached for her again, "Hang on, it's not all gone."

Much, much later, Clover knocked on the window behind them, and a muffled shout came through the glass, "Robin-chan! Get a room!"

* * *

_Is this the right place? _Robin wondered, staring up at what looked to be a deserted warehouse. She'd followed all the instructions given, including dressing comfortably in athletic wear, but she was a bit unnerved by the address. It was a big rough building in the middle of an industrial park. She checked the address again and saw the number on the building. She wondered if she was dressed that way to make it easier to kill someone, or to clean up after being killed. Reassuringly, though, Zoro wouldn't have asked her to dress that way if he was planning on killing her. It would make it too easy for her to run away. Unless he was the kind who liked to chase his prey. No, he was too lazy for that...

"Robin-san!" Her shouted name interrupted her morbid thoughts. Robin turned her head to see a long nose she vaguely recognized through a haze of alcohol over her memory.

"Usopp-san, was it?" That nose was hard to forget.

"You're right on time. The idiot's already here, warming up. Nami dropped him off earlier so he wouldn't get lost," Usopp rolled his eyes as he cocked his thumb around the other corner.

"I see," She said wonderingly, following him in. "What exactly is this place?"

"The Crow's nest! I'm the manager here. It's a target practice range." Usopp explained cheerfully.

Robin stopped dead. "We're shooting today? Like with guns?" _She couldn't do this_. The sounds...

"Zoro borrowed the Axe throwing course," Usopp reassured her, "It's in the back here. It's not open to the public yet, but Zoro's my bud. You guys have it to yourselves. I told him I'd come meet you so he wouldn't get lost around the building."

"Thanks, Usopp-san." She smiled at his boasting.

"You can just call me Usopp," The back door of the building was ajar, and he ushered her through. "Have fun!"

"Robin!" Zoro called to her. The rough room had a very tall ceiling with flickering fluorescent pendant lights dangling down. The narrow room was divided with wire mesh that took up most of the space, creating cubicles before the large, freshly painted targets on the plywood. Zoro was standing in front of one of them, stretching out his muscles. Beside him, a rack of wooden handles stood, pointing slanted up to the ceiling. Robin eyed them warily.

"Hi Zoro," Robin greeted him with a smile, then asked, "Are we really going to throw axes?"

He raised an eyebrow in challenge to her, "Why, you chicken?"

"No," She denied quickly, then admitted, "Maybe a little."

"It's not dangerous," Zoro reassured her. He picked up one of the axes and held it out to her blade first, "Look, it's blunt. You can feel it."

Dubiously, she ran her finger down the edge of the blade and was reassured when she didn't lose a finger. "How does this," She lifted the ax in her hand, "stick into that, then?" She gestured to the plywood target

"It's all about technique. Watch," he took the ax in her hand like a baseball bat, aligning the edge of the blade so it was perfectly straight. In one fluid motion, he raised it high behind his head, wound up, and snapped his arms forward, releasing the weapon when it reached his eye level. The blade flew from his hand, doing one lazy flip until it buried its head into the target two rings from the center.

"Very nice," Robin clapped politely when he retrieved his ax and then turned around to grin at her. Her own smile faltered when he picked up another ax and handed it to her. "Oh, I don't know, maybe you should…"

"Just try it, Robin, It's not hard. I'll help you," He coaxed.

Robin sighed, "Fine, I'll do it," and accepted the ax. She let him reposition her hands, let him reposition her feet, her hips, her arms until he was satisfied with her form. Normally she'd be all tingly with his hands all over her, but with the heavy, awkward weight in her hands, she felt a cold sweat break out. She didn't know if it was the nerves or the memory of how dull the blade was, but when she threw the blade, she threw it too hard and released it too high.

"Look out!": She hardly had time to react, though, when Zoro shouted out and shoved her down with his body.

She heard the ax bounce against the plywood and saw it go flying back over Zoro's head as they fell together. In the next second, her head hit the ground with a thump, but his hand was there to cushion the blow. They fell together in a tangle of limbs against the rough carpet. The ax clanged against the wire mesh that circled the room.

"Are you okay?" He asked, levering himself up on one elbow to take a look at her.

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you okay?" Robin asked him, brows wrinkled with concern.

"Don't worry about me," He said brusquely, lifting himself off her. She scrambled up as well and checked him over for scrapes and scratches. His forearms had a bit of carpet burn, but otherwise, he was OK.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"It happens," He reassured her, but looked at the frown on her face and asked hesitantly, "Do you want to stop here?"

Robin was about to nod, but then saw the look in his eyes, and changed her mind. She already risked death every day, she might as well have fun doing so. "No, let's keep going. But this time, explain. Don't just grope me." She teased him.

Zoro's face instantly blushed a bright red, but he obediently did as she asked, and showed her the point at which she should be letting go. The ax flew too high again, but instead of bouncing back, it got stuck in the plywood above the target. Her next one was too low, and the few after that wouldn't stick and fell off. Eventually, though, deep knicks in the wood started appearing, marching closer and closer to the bright red bullseye in a haphazard spiral, until on her thirty-second throw, she finally hit the center.

"Yes!" she gave a very satisfied smirk. Zoro, who had been watching her and coaching her all along, smiled as well.

"Wanna play a competitive round?" He asked her as he picked up an ax again. "Ten throws each, most points wins."

She looked at the fresh ax he was holding out to her, "What are we betting?"

"Hmmm," He rubbed his chin, "Winner has to do what the loser says?"

Robin eyed him, "Ara, I'm a total beginner though. This isn't fair."

Zoro shrugged, "I'll play with the normal scoring system, but how bout this: If you hit the circle at all, it's three points. If you hit the bullseye or the inner two rings, you get 4,5, or 6 points." When Robin still hesitated, he raised one eyebrow in a challenge "Even with that big of a handicap, you're not scared, are you?" He leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "Or are you afraid of what I'll ask when I win?"

"When you win?" Robin pushed him back, annoyed at his arrogance, "Fine. Let's do this. Don't forget your promise when you lose, Zoro."

It wasn't even close. Robin managed a fairly respectable 26 points, but Zoro nearly doubled her score with 51 points. She glowered at him, as she was hot, sore and aching all over. Tendrils of hair had escaped her neat ponytail and were now plastered to her sweaty brow. She looked and felt like a mess, and there was nothing she wouldn't've given right this minute for a shower.

To Zoro, she looked glorious, all flushed and tousled from physical exercise. It made his thoughts go to other places, but he ruthlessly beat back the impulse. He did notice how tired she was and offered instead. "Let's call it a day. Why don't I take you back to your place?"

She evaluated him resentfully. He looked fresh as a daisy, with maybe the slightest suggestion of a light dew. Dammit! "Indeed, you're coming in to scrub my back."

Zoro froze for a second. Was she…. No, she couldn't be. She was so cool and sophisticated, "I thought you were supposed to be doing what I said." He complained instead.

Still visibly annoyed, she raised one arrogant eyebrow at him, "Who said I wouldn't?"

A taxi driver later swore never to pick people at that warehouse ever again. He was terrified that police were going to turn up at the door to ask him for his alibi for weeks afterward. Why else had that green hair man been shouting at him to go like someone was chasing behind them?

* * *

**AN:** And we're back! SanNami week is over (that was FIVE works from me guys. It was a lot, and finishing this chapter), so here I am. I gotta admit that this one chapter is probably the longest one because it was the last thing added to the outline (because genius romance writer I am, I realized after I'd outlined the whole thing that, oh yeah, couples need to spend time together to fall in love. Dur).

Two references I wanted to explain: oysters are a known aphrodisiac, and Zoro reads out loud from the Wife of Bath's tale. Try reading it aloud to yourself (but not where there's other people unless you want people to question why you're saying you're forty and lusty for a twenty-year-old). I actually had a hard time choosing which passage to use, because raunchy Chaucer is... raunchy. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! Comments, reviews, kudos, favs, and all that good stuff make my day 3 See you next week.


	7. That Worry - Sanji & Robin

As he did every Sunday, Sanji waited patiently in the screened porch of a nondescript house, located in a sleepy suburb on the West side of town. Like most Sundays, he carried a bag of groceries. Unlike most Sundays, he was also tightly clutching a ledger. It was the ledger that made him the most nervous.

He'd already knocked - once hard, pause, once soft, then three quick ones. She'd changed the password last week, and Sanji nearly screwed it up. The last time he'd screwed up, she hadn't come to the door, and his organic milk had spoiled.

It wasn't the cost that bothered him. Technically, she was paying for it. It was the waste of perfectly good food. So Sanji was always very careful with her password.

Finally, Sanji heard a couple of tumblers falling and three clicks of the locks being opened, followed by the last thump of the deadbolt. Robin cautiously stuck her head out. Sanji blinked, surprised he hadn't heard the rattle of her chain bolt.

Robin simply nodded at him and stepped back. Sanji didn't find this strange at all. Judging by how rumpled her hair was, the fact that she was still wearing her pajamas, and how her eyes were only half opened, he surmised she probably didn't have her coffee yet.

"Good morning, Robin-chan!" Sanji sang enthusiastically as he headed to her breakfast nook and began to unload the groceries. Opening her fridge, he tsked disapprovingly.

"What in the world have you been eating? You just have last week's milk here!" He scolded her as he moved to her cupboard where he kept her coffee stuff.

"Coffee," she demanded simply, ignoring his question, "Otherwise I'll just get out my instant stuff."

"Don't you dare," he hissed, quickly pulling out a small brown bag with an alluring aroma. He opened her cupboard and pulled out the brew pot, flat grinder, kitchen scale, filter papers, and goosenecked kettle that only he used at her house. As he began to prepare her weekly, precious pot of pour-over coffee, Robin looked like she was starting to wake up.

Sanji knew she was awake by the time he was letting the freshly ground coffee bloom in the first 30 seconds of brew time. Seeing her fascinated expression as she watched him carefully pour a spiral into the foam, not too fast, not too slow, Sanji remembered that this was how they started their Sunday brunch tradition. He'd conned her with a pot of good coffee. For someone as paranoid as she was, she was easily bribed.

"Why don't you add some milk this time, Robin-chan?" Sanji grinned, already knowing her answer.

"Spill any of that into my good coffee and I'll stick a fork into your eye, Sanji-kun," Robin muttered darkly.

Sanji snorted out a laugh. She'd given a similar response every time he asked her. She kept milk for her instant coffee that she brewed during the week because she couldn't be bothered with all the paraphernalia but didn't like the taste, but at her heart, she loved her black coffee. If she wasn't so lazy about her food, she probably would never get any calcium.

"Here you go, Robin-chan," He poured out half the 32-ounce carafe into her morning coffee cup.

"Mmmmm," She breathed in deeply to luxuriate in the scent, then took her first sip, "I'm finally awake. Thank you Sanji-kun."

"You're welcome," He smiled, pouring out a smaller cup for himself. He left it to the side as he got out her pots and pans, while she took the coffee back upstairs to get showered and dressed for the day. Since he'd anticipated that Robin had probably subsisted on microwave meals for the past week, he'd brought over the ingredients to make her a large quiche and freeze the leftovers. At least she'd have something that resembled real food in her fridge. Sanji was nearly as familiar with Robin's kitchen as he was with his own and his bar's. All the spices and seasonings were still in the same place he'd put them away last week. By the time Robin finally came downstairs, dressed in a purple shirt and a pair of jeans, Sanji was humming a small tune as he popped the quiche in the oven.

"Good morning, Sanji-kun," She smiled, taking a seat at the counter. "What's for breakfast this week?"

"Bacon and Kale Quiche. There'll be leftovers - I'll put them in your freezer."

"I like leftovers," Robin smiled at his thoughtfulness, "Thank you Sanji-kun."

"It's going to take a few minutes to bake though, so while it does, we can get business out of the way." Sanji added nervously when he saw her smile freeze, "I brought the ledger."

She was no longer smiling. Her arms were wrapped firmly around her body in a protective stance, and the look in her eyes was the same chilly, distant one that Sanji remembered from their first meeting.

"Sanji, you know I don't like to talk about that," She said, cold and impersonal as if he was an unsolicited door-to-door salesman and not someone who made her brunch every Sunday.

"I know, Robin-chan," He put a hand on hers, "But I need to run something by you, and I had to bring the books to illustrate my point. This isn't a Profits and Losses meeting."

She relaxed a little, but still didn't uncross her arms, "What is it?"

"You know how you told me not to charge Luffy and Usopp and them for the second meals and just the cost for the drinks?" Sanji flipped to the latest page in the ledger.

She relaxed all the way and frowned at him, clearly confused. This was what he had to talk to her about? "Yes, what about it?"

"In the past two months, they've been coming fairly often," Sanji started awkwardly, not sure how to approach the subject.

"Yes, I've enjoyed having them around. I believe you have as well, especially Nami-chan," She teased him slightly.

"Well, I have, but," His neck grew hot. He wasn't that obvious, was he?

"You aren't exactly subtle, Sanji-kun," She smirked at him, reading his face.

"H-hey, that's not the point. It's about Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro, actually." Sanji was slightly embarrassed himself. He put the opened book in front of Robin and tapped several red numbers that appeared regularly down the side of the column.

"I'm pretty sure Zoro is doing it just to spite me, and that boy can drink, but... Usopp and Luffy eat a LOT." Sanji said sheepishly.

"Oh... my," Instead of being upset, though, Robin started to laugh.

"You're okay with the losses?" He asked anxiously.

"Yes, of course. So long as all the staff is getting paid and the bills are being paid on time, I don't care how small my share of the bar's profit is," Robin waved it off, "I still get paid at the institute."

Sanji frowned. He knew how much she got paid there. Since she was technically off the books, she didn't command as high a salary as a professor with her credentials should be receiving. Considering her house was paid for and she didn't have any dependents, her wants were few. Still, he wouldn't be doing his job as her best friend and business partner if he didn't point it out. So he asked, "Are you sure? I know you don't like the money, but -"

"Sanji-kun," Robin stopped him by putting a hand over his, "My mother would have been delighted that her life insurance went to help me buy friends and a boyfriend."

"That's not what I mean, Robin-chan!" He exclaimed, mortified.

She fell back laughing, "I know Sanji-kun. It's fine, I promise. Besides, Nami's probably noticed since she's been back from her trip, and will make the idiots pay their fair share. When she comes by, make sure you put up a good argument, but you can let her win it. No point ruining your budding relationship on my behalf."

"There's no budding relationship there," He retorted, still embarrassed, "If you're sure. I know you think of it as blood money, but since I'm your business partner. You were there for me at the lowest point in my life. I gotta look out for your interests, even if you don't want to."

"I'm sure, Sanji-kun." She smiled at him, but there was a trace of a lingering, old pain that Sanji knew very well but hardly saw these days,"Thank you for looking out for me, but it's fine."

"OK," Sanji conceded, just as the alarm he'd set beeped. He turned around to take his quiche out of and turn off the oven as Robin poured the rest of the coffee, now a bit more lukewarm than she liked, into her cup.

"Enjoy," he said as he quickly and efficiently set out a deceptively simple breakfast spread. He cut them both generous slices, serving them on her plates that she hadn't seen since the last time he was here. He then handed her a fork and a nice linen napkin tucked along with the plate and brought his coffee from the stove to the breakfast nook. Scooped watermelon and oranges cut so that the peel looked like a rose made a cheerful edible centerpiece on the countertop, bathed in the light of the rising sun.

Robin dug in with gusto. She always enjoyed Sanji's food, and he so enjoyed feeding people. She'd put on a few more pounds in the past couple of months though. Sanji frowned slightly.

"So... boyfriend, eh?" He raised one curly eyebrow at her, "You guys are official?"

"Mhmm," Robin smiled a little dreamily, a faint flush appearing on her cheeks. She got distracted from her quiche, dangling a morsel from her fork.

"When did that happen?" He asked, "Seems like only two months ago that he was kidnapping you from the bar."

Robin laughed at him, "He didn't kidnap me, I went willingly. Be nice, Sanji-kun. He's... he's good for me."

"Hmph, he'd better be," Sanji groused, but his heart warmed at seeing her smile so freely. She'd been doing that a lot more.

"They've all been good for me," Robin sighed a little and got back to eating. "Even though by rights, I'm too old to be hanging out with any of you, but..."

"Friends are friends, Robin-chan. Don't think too hard about it," Sanji said, reassuringly, then wanted to bite his tongue off.

She only smiled, "That's hard to do with anxiety and PTSD, Sanji-kun, but I'm trying."

Sanji swallowed uncomfortably around another mouthful of quiche, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Robin forgave him, and changed the topic, "So tell me how many bar fights you had to break up this week. Anything interesting?"

Their conversation over the rest of breakfast went relatively smoothly, along the same lines as it always had. Sanji told Robin about any incidents at the bar, both amusing and potentially litigious. Robin talked more about her research, and Sanji couldn't help but notice that she dropped Nami's name in there more than once. He'd become interested in the younger woman when she started to creep into Robin's normally work-focused brain, and now that he'd met her, he understood. When Robin was winding down for the week and had neatly cut the last bite of her quiche in half and popped it into her mouth, Sanji had already started cleaning up their dishes.

"You can just leave them, Sanji. I'll get to them," When he gave her the look, she blushed, "I only left them for a week once!"

"I'm almost done, it isn't much. Wanna do a grocery run?" He asked her, "You should eat something besides microwaved meals. Get some fresh fruits and veggies into your diet."

Robin hesitated but eventually nodded. "Let me go get my reusable bags."

Sanji let out a sigh of relief. Looks like today was a good week. Those had been happening more often. Quickly, he finished packing up the rest of the quiche into slices so that she could reheat them for a meal later and was just wiping down the counter when she came out with her bags. Like the gentleman he was, he took them from her, but then went out the door first so she could do her security checks in peace. The store was about a 15-minute walk from her place to the middle of town, but Sanji always factored in another 5 minutes with Robin.

Sure enough, they were turning off her cul-de-sac when she froze and asked, "Sanji-kun, did you turn off the stove?"

"Yes," Sanji didn't hesitate, "But you can go back to check it if you want. I'll wait."

She froze in place in indecision, having a silent argument with herself, and then finally took a deep breath and shook her head, "It's fine," She smiled, "Let's go."

Sanji didn't make a big deal of it, but he knew how big a step this was for her. They walked the rest of the way through quiet residential and commercial side streets in silence, just enjoying each other's company and the bright morning sunshine.

When they came up to the grocery store, though, Sanji frowned when he spotted a familiar flaming mane. Normally the sight wouldn't make him frown, but this time, he noticed how close it was to a curly green cropped head.

"That looks like...," Sanji muttered to himself, but Robin heard him and looked in the direction he was staring at.

That looked like Nami... And Zoro... were they...?

"Why the hell are you hugging Nami-san, you bastard?" Sanji yelled, startling everyone.

* * *

**AN:** Friendship time! I want a BFF like Sanji... Actually... maybe not, lol. Does this count as a cliffhanger? I don't think it is... but either way, it should be resolved this week - it's a double update week. And yes, I am very much a coffee person when it comes to my morning brew, and I am learning the proper technique (emphasis on learning, thank you James Hoffman on the 'tube). I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to make my day and leave me a comment, review, kudos, fav, etcetc, and see you soon!


	8. That Run - Zoro & Nami

_Earlier that day..._

"I hate you so much," Nami squinted at the figure on her doorstep.

"Suck it up, Nami. We're going for a run," Zoro ordered her. He eyed her messy hair and pajamas dubiously. "You didn't forget, did you?"

"No, but you weren't supposed to remember! Or be able to find my place!" She complained, propping herself against the door frame.

"Hey! We've been here for eight months, I can figure out how to walk down the street," Zoro retorted.

"It only took you that long to figure out how to turn left!"

"Shut up," Zoro snarled at her, "Now get your lazy ass moving, or see if I ever help you lose weight again."

"No comments about my ass, buddy!" Nami retorted. She threw the door open bad-temperedly as she turned around to go back inside, "I still need to get ready, so you might as well wait inside."

"Don't take all day," Zoro warned her.

"I will if I want to," She yelled back at him.

Zoro grumbled but wandered over to the kitchen where he filled his water bottle, then hers, then opened up his phone to scroll mindlessly. By the time he'd seen his sixth cat video, his patience was already gone. _Where is that girl?_

"Nami, I'm not going away if you stall, so hurry the fuck up already," Zoro yelled.

"Fine!" She hollered back, instantly crashing down the stairs. She looked fresh and athletic in the orange tank top and red booty shorts, with a matching headband for her sweat. She looked ready to go with her phone was strapped to her arm and her hair in a ponytail. Only Zoro knew how deceptive her look was.

"About fucking time," he muttered.

"Oh bite me," she snarled back. She held out her hand for her filled water bottle.

He eyed her bitterly. "You could say thank you."

"You're welcome," she retorted childishly as she turned to go.

Zoro gave up. At least she wasn't making him carry both water bottles. Then again, after the orange juice and Tabasco sauce incident...

He smirked.

Nami saw his smirk and scowled at him. "What's so funny, Zoro?"

"Don't fall behind," he only said and took off at a punishing sprint.

"Hey, asshole! Warm up!" Nami yelled as she was taken by surprise and had to chase him to catch up.

Zoro snickered and obligingly slowed down after they reached the end of the street. He let her decide which way to turn. They started slowly, neither saying anything to the other, as they both focused on finding their rhythm. They passed through shady residential streets and sun-dappled commercial streets that were just starting to wake up, past people enjoying their morning coffee and walking their dogs. Zoro didn't really know where they were going, or how. That's why he dragged Nami on these runs, as much as she bitched and complained about it. He trusted her to get him home at the end.

"Let's slow for a minute," Nami finally requested, slowing to an easy jog on one of the residential streets. Zoro scoffed but obliged, slowing to a walking speed without losing the warmth and looseness of his muscles.

"Arghhgh, it's been so long," She complained, feeling her thigh. "Everything's going to hurt tomorrow."

"You didn't stretch, did you," Zoro eyed her derisively.

"Who was yelling at me to get out the door?" Nami retorted. Zoro simply shrugged, not willing to admit that she might have a point. "Besides, why are you hauling me out of bed to go running when you have a girlfriend now? Torment her instead!"

"Just because I have a girlfriend now doesn't mean you get to slack off," Zoro said in a tone that he knew would piss her off. Instead of annoying her, though, she stopped. "What's the matter with you?"

"You just called Robin your girlfriend," She gaped at him

"You started it," Zoro responded uncomfortably.

"Yeah, but you called her your girlfriend! You, Zoro! When did that happen?" She demanded. "Geez, I'm gone for two international trips and you guys have already made it official. It's been, what, two months?"

"It just happened, okay?" He said uncomfortably, "If you don't keep running, you're going to lock up."

Nami gave him the stink eye for trying to change the subject but started an easy jog again. "So how's it going...?"

"How's what going?" Zoro really didn't want to talk about this in public.

"Your relationship!"

"We're not girls, Nami. We don't do the relationship gossip thing."

"I'm a girl, Zoro. We talk about our feelings and relationships. And considering I had more than a little to do with you two getting together, I feel responsible! So c'mon, spill. How's it going?"

Zoro still didn't say anything, until she narrowed her eyes at him, "If you don't tell me now, I won't help you order your next taxi."

"Okay fine." Zoro gave in. Besides, it probably better to talk to her out here than somewhere in the house where Luffy and Usopp would overhear. "It's... fine."

"Fine? That's it? Have you guys done the deed yet?"

"None of your business!" Zoro scowled at her.

"Oh, which deed did you think I meant. No way, Zoro, you went all the way!?" Nami grinned widely, covering her lips with a squeal.

"I do NOT want to talk about this with you!" Zoro nearly roared, overcome with embarrassment.

"Fine, fine. Well, you guys are progressing nicely it seems.," Nami side-eyed him, though, "Still, something's bothering you about the whole thing."

"Nothing's bothering me... " Zoro trailed off, but he knew he was lying when the words came out of his mouth. Worse, Nami knew he was lying when the words came out of his mouth.

"Zoro..." Nami said, stopping entirely in a nearly empty parking lot, "C'mon."

He jogged in place further down the sidewalk, hoping she wouldn't insist, but when she put her hands on her hips and gave him the look, he sighed, admitted defeat, and walked back over to her.

"Tell," She ordered him.

"It's not a big deal," He mumbled, embarrassed. He hated doing this, but if it had to be anyone, it might as well be Nami. "I'm just... I'm worried that I like her more than she likes me."

"What? No way," Nami exclaimed in surprise, "I've seen you two together. She really likes you, Zoro."

Hearing her say that made him feel better, but still... "I feel like she could do better."

She sighed, "Look, Zoro, if a decade of reading romance novels has taught me anything, it's that there's no more or less, better or not better. A relationship is a choice you make every day, and at least for now, she's choosing you just as much as you're choosing her."

"Yeah, I guess," Zoro scratched the back of his head, "I don't know. I'm... I'm worried that she's going to choose someone else some other day. She's so much older than I am, Nami. It makes me feel... immature."

"You are immature," Nami pointed out unhelpfully.

All of Zoro's insecurity came back in a moment, threatening to shatter his fragile confidence in the relationship. He abruptly turned and walked away from her, towards the middle of the parking lot.

"Wait, Zoro!" Nami quickly followed him, grabbing his arm, "I'm sorry, that came out the wrong way."

He shook her off.

"Zoro!" She wrapped her arms around his torso to keep him from shaking her off so easily. "Hang on, let me explain. You are who you are, Zoro. You can't not be 7 years younger than her. That's not going to change. But even still, she's still choosing you, right?"

Zoro barely had time to absorb what she said, though, when a loud shout interrupted them from across the parking lot.

"Why the hell are you hugging Nami-san, you bastard?"

* * *

**AN:** I love writing Zoro and Nami bickering like siblings; it just flies off the fingers. Am I going to be able to pull off the hat trick and post to _I'll Do It_ three times this week? Iunno, but you, dear reader, are benefiting from the COVID 19 panic currently happening in my city. Please leave me a comment, review, fav, kudos, bookmark or messenger pigeon to let me know that someone out there is reading and the rest of the world still exists (mostly kidding, wash your hands, guys), and see you soon my dears!


	9. That Vote of Confidence - Robin & Nami

Nami let go of Zoro out of reflex then squinted to try to find out who'd yelled her name like that. Seeing a familiar blond head and a tall woman with long dark hair, she smiled and beckoned to them.

"Speak of the Devil. Robin-chan! Sanji-kun!" She waved enthusiastically. Zoro looked up at Robin's name and also managed to smile despite his inner turmoil. She looked as beautiful as she always did. He raised a hand to greet her, only to realize how gross and sweaty he was from his run. Awkwardly, he lowered his arm again.

"Hey asshole," Sanji charged over, flaming eyes all ready to do battle with Zoro. Zoro was startled. What was he on about anyways? "Answer my question. What the hell were you doing hugging Nami? Cheating on Robin already?"

Zoro was just ready to beat him up. "I would never cheat on Robin. Nami was hugging me. It's a perfectly natural thing to do as friends. Friends, ya dumbass. Where's your perverted mind gone to, you curly brows asshole?"

"We caught you red-handed!"

Nami, who skipped over to greet Robin, had snapped her head back and glared at the loudmouth cook. Who was cheating on who? With who?!

Robin, who was just about to smile at the younger girl, also followed her glare to look at Sanji. She raised an eyebrow at her best friend. Who caught who red-handed? Of what?

"Red-handed my ass, you shitty bartender!"

"Don't even try to pretend you don't know you're guilty as hell, Mosshead!"

"Who's freaking guilty!?"

"You are, don't even try to hide it!"

"Hey!" Nami finally lost her rising temper. Somehow, she managed to shove a surprised Zoro back and got into an equally shocked Sanji's face, "Who are you accusing of cheating, you jackass?"

"Nami-san, I-"

"Because if you're accusing him of doing something wrong, you're accusing me of doing something wrong, too!"

"I just -"

"You just jumped to an idiotic conclusion! It'd be one thing if you saw him hugging another girl randomly, but you know me! You know I would never do anything like that to Robin-chan! And I was hugging HIM, you blind man."

"Nami-san, I didn't mean -"

"Well, that's what you said! And another thing, if Zoro HAD been hugging another girl, how do you know she wasn't his cousin from Alabasta?"

"Does he even -"

"No! But that's not the point!"

Zoro backed away from the arguing pair slowly. Nami was starting to lose the logical thought train, but since she was still berating Sanji, he figured he'd just let her go. Having been on the receiving end before, he wasn't sure he could stop her, either.

A gentle hand on his bicep nearly made him jump. He turned to look as his beautiful girlfriend came to stand beside him. God. She was his _girlfriend_ now.

"She's really going at him, isn't she?" Robin observed with a small smile.

"It's Nami," He said by way of explanation. She looked at him, and her smile spread.

"You guys are really good friends, aren't you?" She asked

"Hn," He wouldn't say it aloud, but then he hesitated, "Does it bother you?"

"No, of course not. I trust you both," She said simply, bumping him on the shoulder. It was a light touch, but it made him want more.

"Hey, I'm sweaty," He warned her self-consciously.

She leaned closer to him and whispered close to his ear, "If I get sweaty, you can just clean me up again."

Zoro turned bright red as he remembered what had happened after they'd gotten back to her place that one time. He really shouldn't be this tongue-tied around her, though. Remembering what Nami said before they were interrupted, he decided to go for it. He leaned in to whisper into her ear, putting a hesitant hand on her waist.

"Promise?"

Zoro felt her freeze under his hand and instantly regretted his impulsiveness. Why didn't he carry a dagger when he went running? Seppuku was still an option, right? Before he could take it back, though, she put her hand over his and leaned back to give him the most sinful smile he'd ever seen on her. It made him think of morning sunshine, rumpled bedsheets, and warm satiation.

"Let's switch up our next date location, okay? Come back to my place."

It was his turn to freeze. "... Are you sure?" He had to ask. They'd never met in private since the Ax throwing date. There'd been a very memorable interlude in the park and other dates at public locations, but still.. Sometimes he cursed the fact he had roommates. Even then, he didn't want to push her. The only reason she'd probably let him back to her place was because he wouldn't remember where it was, anyways.

"Mhmm," She cupped the side of his face lightly. Her smile was soft and inviting, and full of something.. something. He smiled back at her, just a small quirk of his lips, but a look in his eyes seemed to touch her heart, because she dropped a light kiss on his cheek, before letting his hand drop to interrupt the pair who were still arguing like cats and dogs.

"Nami-san! I know he's your best friend, but he's got a girlfriend now, he shouldn't be hugging other women!"

"Are you dating him? It's up to his GIRLFRIEND to decide what her boundaries are, and him to agree to it! Where are you in this equation?!"

"I'm just looking out for Robin-chan!"

"Robin-chan?! How DARE you call someone else's girlfriend that?"

"Hey!"

"You see how stupid that sounds? Get over yourself!"

"It's not the same thing!"

"Nami-chan," Robin interrupted as the combatants geared up for another round of arguing. Her quiet words startled them both, making them look at her.

"Yes, Robin-chan?" Nami had the grace to look a little embarrassed when she realized she was yelling in the middle of a quiet parking lot.

"When you order the taxi for Zoro next Saturday, can you send him to a different address?" She fished around her pocket for a pen, finding one then hesitated, " Do you have a piece of paper?"

Uh...No, just write it on my arm? I'll just take a picture," Nami offered, stretching out her forearm.

Robin hesitated again, "Can you promise me you'll delete the picture afterward? It's my home address."

"Robin-chan!" Sanji interrupted, but shut up when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, of course," Nami reassured her, a bit stupefied.

"Great. Thanks for arranging it, Nami-chan. You're the best wing woman," Robin teased her as she took the younger woman's arm and wrote a couple of lines on her arm. "We shouldn't be interrupting your run any more, so we'll leave you to it. Let's go Sanji-kun." She kindly but firmly gave him a look to follow her. "See you at work, Nami-chan."

As she walked by a stunned Zoro, she stopped and dropped a light kiss on his cheek. "Bye. See you Saturday."

"Yeah," he replied, so dazed by the obvious vote of confidence she gave him that he didn't even notice the daggers Sanji was glaring at him.

"Wait for me, Robin-chan!" Sanji exclaimed, hurrying to catch up with Robin as she went through the doors of the supermarket.

That left him and Nami standing together in the parking lot, both rather amazed at what had just happened. Zoro was still touching his cheek. Breaking into a huge smile, Nami elbowed him and gloated, "What'd I tell you? She's choosing you."

* * *

**AN:**... Hah! I did it! Three chapters this week, I'm very proud of myself. Self-Isolation makes for plenty of writing time though *sighs* So yeah, this is how the cliffy is resolved. Anti-climatic? Maybe a little. I do love writing Angry!Nami though. Poor Sanji-kun, lol~ His ideas of chivalry don't always translate the best into Modern AUs. Join me next week for an uber fluffy? at home date! As always, comments, reviews, favourites, kudos, bookmarks, and morse code on my window reacting to this fic make my day.

P.S. For the readers over 18, lemme know if you'd like a M-rated fic of what happened after the ax throwing date (\\\\\\\3\\\\\\\\) I could let that plotbun grow...


	10. That Popcorn - Robin x Zoro

Zoro was late.

Robin sat on her front porch, watching the utter emptiness of her cul-de-sac with a small frown. Even if it was a nice, warm summer day to be sitting on the front porch, she'd never done this before. If it weren't for the fact that it was screened in so she could see the street but the street couldn't see her, she'd still be peeping at her windows. He really wasn't all that late, but considering how early he'd been to their previous dates, Zoro being even five minutes late was an oddity.

She couldn't help but worry a little.

She'd had the wine decanted on her kitchen counter and the popcorn ready for a while. She even brought out her mother's secret spice mixture, something she hadn't done in since… well, since.

Her morbid thoughts were interrupted when a taxi car drove by the entrance of her roundabout, loud voices raised in what sounded like an argument as it went by. Not five minutes later, it turned around and slowly turned into her cul de sac, driving slowly as the driver was obviously looking at the numbers. Even though she knew who it probably was, a small, illogical spurt of panic strangled her. She wanted to run back into the house, slam the door, and use every single one of her locks.

That panic dissipated when she saw the door swing open and heard Zoro loudly arguing with what must have been the driver. "I said I was sorry old man, and I'm paying for the extra mileage, so stop bitching, okay?"

"I've never seen anyone so bad at giving directions in my life! Damn straight you're paying the extra mileage, that hot girl did not pay me enough to follow your directions! Don't call me again!"

Robin stifled a small chuckle as she watched Zoro roll his eyes and hand the guy an extra twenty as he came out of the taxi with a wrapped bottle in hand. He shouldn't have been able to see her, but somehow, Robin swore their eyes met through the screen. Taking a deep breath, she went forward and pulled the curtain away, smiling as he came up her front stairs.

"Zoro, hi," She leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

"Mm," Instead of saying anything, he cupped her chin with his free hand and dropped a much longer, more passionate kiss on her lips. It'd only been less than a week since she'd seen him, but he kissed her like he hadn't seen her in months. It made her heart feel a little ticklish.

Then she realized they were still on her porch and started. She shoved at his chest, which startled him enough to make him break the kiss abruptly. Surprised at her sudden rejection, he looked a little hurt.

"Come inside, okay?" She asked softly, wanting to feel less exposed. The screen wouldn't be much protection against a sniper rifle.

"Sure," Zoro replied, still frowning a little.

Seeing this, she reached out to take his free hand and drew him into her front lobby. Once he was in, she tried to surreptitiously close all her locks, but she saw him looking at her three turnkeys, one deadbolt, and chain lock with a raised eyebrow. "The previous owners were very security conscious," She forced a smile and offered a lame excuse.

"Uh-huh," The look in his eyes told her that he obviously didn't buy it, though, so she moved to distract him.

"Is that for me?" She asked after the wrapped bottle he was holding.

He jumped, just remembering what he was holding, and offered it to her, "Here. I, uh, hope you like it. I don't know anything about wine, but the store owner recommended it."

Robin unwrapped the bottle and looked at the label, "You shouldn't have. A white wine? I don't think I know this label."

"I meant to get you flowers, but I forgot until we were on the road… and we couldn't find the flower shop, so the cabbie just drove me to his favourite bodega, and -"

"It's very thoughtful, thank you Zoro," She put a finger over his lips when he started to babble, knowing his insecurities.

"You're welcome," He smiled, relaxing under her finger, "Do you want to open it now, or?"

"Actually, I have a very lovely red breathing right now. It'll go nicely with the popcorn. Shall we watch a movie?"

"Watch a movie?" He echoed, raising one eyebrow with a small smirk on his lips.

"For now," She smirked back at him. "Since I chose the snacks, you get to pick the movies. My library's over there - go take a look while I pour us a glass."

She turned towards the kitchen and made a big show of preparing their snacks as she covertly watched him in her living room from across her open concept breakfast nook. He was looking at her extensive collection of DVDs, frowning as he browsed. Like her, though, she could see that he was also sneaking peeks of her space, taking in the comfortable but old furniture, the giant TV and ancient DVD player, and her utter lack of outside communication devices while he browsed. Her grip tensed on the side of the popcorn bowl. _I wonder what he thinks of me?_ She made herself relax.

She was so engrossed in pretending not to watch him that she started when he turned around to ask her something. "Robin, is this your entire collection? Do you have Netflix?"

Robin blinked at him, unsettled. "No I - I don't have any internet. Why? What's wrong with my DVD collection?"

"Oh," Zoro froze for a second, "You don't have many action movies."

"Oh," Now Robin felt awkward. She'd forgotten she hadn't told him that she hated the sound of explosions. After what she'd been through…. She took a deep breath, then knelt down to the bottom of the shelf and pulled out a small box, "What about these?" She handed it to him.

Zoro pulled one out and stared at it, "These are Japanese."

"You do kendo," she grinned, "You'll enjoy them."

"I don't understand Japanese," Zoro said the obvious

"You can read subtitles," Robin grinned.

"But then we can't…," He got tongue-tied when her grin turned impish and scratched the back of his neck, "you know."

"You know what?" Robin teased him.

"The- Uh -," Zoro flushed even redder trying to explain himself. Enjoying the sight of his flustered face, Robin just crossed her arms to see how he would try to talk himself out of this hole. After a couple of minutes entirely tongue-tied, he did the last thing she expected and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I just came here for… you know. You mean more than that to me." Gently, he put down the box of movies and drew her into his arms.

At that moment, Robin didn't know if she was more guilty about making him worry about it or enjoying the warmth that had tickled her heart when he said it. She just buried her face in the crook of his neck and said softly "Mhmm."

He reached up to stroke her hair, "You sure? Because I don't ever want you to think that."

"I don't," with a smile, she leaned back and beamed at his embarrassed but sincere face. "C'mon, let's watch a movie. It's a good one, I promise,"

Zoro was… surprised. Not that he'd liked the movie - he was fine with swords and subtitles. Not that he was having a good time with her while watching the movie - she was not one of those annoying people who explained the movie as if he hadn't just watched the damn scene. But… he was surprised because he'd barely had any popcorn all movie.

Robin was a popcorn hog. And it was good popcorn she was hogging!

He glanced over at her as the credits rolled. She looked adorable, with her legs resting on his lap, her eyes eagerly watching the screen…. And her arms wrapped protectively around the bowl! And it was a big bowl!

His eyes lit up. It was a challenge, then.

"So, what did you think of the…," She started to say as she turned to him, but trailed off as she saw that look in his eyes, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Zoro firmly pinned her legs under one arm as he leaned over, scooting her butt over with the other. Robin squeaked in surprise as she nearly landed in his lap, almost dropping the popcorn bowl as he moved her.

"Zoro!" She protested.

"I'm just getting my rightful prey," He grinned at her, reaching towards her torso with twitchy fingers.

"You said you weren't just interested in -" She broke off when his hands dipped into the popcorn bowl, but he'd frozen, a flash of hurt replacing the mischievous look that had been there a minute ago.

"I'm not, I just wanted some popcorn," Zoro said quietly, grabbing a handful. She felt the loss of warmth against her back acutely

"Oh," Robin looked down, truly ashamed of herself at that minute, "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Zoro shrugged it off, but Robin knew he was still a bit hurt, so she relinquished her popcorn and wrapped her arms around his neck.

For a minute, he just let her hold him. Every second that passed, though, was a cold prickle down her back that he hadn't also touched her, but it was also a second where he didn't push her away. When he finally wrapped his arms around her though, she gave a great sigh of relief and burrowed in to enjoy the moment.

_What in the world was wrong with her?_ She knew, thought. It was the intimacy. And the PTSD. It made her jumpy to have him in her space. She'd thought that since she'd gotten used to Sanji in her space, she could have Zoro as well, but it was so different. It made her feel that much more… vulnerable. And scared. And… cowardly. She wanted to curl into a ball of self-loathing for feeling this way towards a man she knew would never hurt her.

She sighed again. Maybe this had been too big a step for her.

"Zoro?" Robin said tentatively.

"Mhmm?" He asked, equally as guarded.

"I know it's your place to pick the next date but… can I choose?"

"Sure." Absolute, unquestioning acceptance. What had she done to deserve this?

"Can we go to a restaurant? Something simple, but…"

Her words got stuck in her throat. That moment of silence stretched into an awkward pause.

"But?"

"I just… I just want to go somewhere public. Is that OK?"

He drew back this time, with a dark frown on his brows. "What's that supposed to mean, Robin?"

"N-nothing!" She stammered, knowing he was going to misunderstand her, but desperately wanting to get rid of this feeling of fear and inadequacy.

Zoro just stared at her.

"I just. This is fast. Maybe a bit too fast for me, Zoro." Robin admitted.

Zoro frowned, "Do you regret that we-"

"No, not that," She didn't want him to misunderstand her on that point, "I-It's hard for me to have someone in my space. Know where I live. Case my joint."

"I'm not here to rob you, Robin." His frown grew darker.

Th-that's not what I mean either!" She ground out, frustrated with her inability to get her point across.

"And you don't have to worry about me remembering your address. Nami's already deleted the picture she took. I'm not coming back here," Zoro barrelled on, trying to reassure her, but it only upset her more.

"No!" She exclaimed, panicking a little, "I want you here, but… It's hard. It's hard to trust anyone. Even Sanji-" She broke off, realizing how it sounded. Zoro's body stiffened under her hands.

"Robin, I know he's your best friend," Zoro started and swallowed, obviously having a hard time with the next words, "And I know it's … different. But…. won't you at least let me try?" He looked at her with pleading eyes.

It broke her heart a little, watching him lower his guard this far and ask her something this personal. She knew how insecure he was about them, at times. But…. she couldn't. She just couldn't. Not yet, anyways. Not all the way.

"Of course you can try, Zoro," she sighed, dropping her head on his shoulder, "Just… be patient with me, please."

* * *

**AN: **#($*()*% This was a hard chapter to write for me :( There's a reason I mostly write fluffy fluff fluff guys, I have a marshmallow for a heart and it hurts for me to make my characters sad. My poor babies. And all Zoro wanted was some... y'know. Hehehe.

Honestly, I struggled with this chapter the most because I felt like it was a smidge more OOC than I wanted, but in the end, the characters do what the characters do, and they're all alone in Robin's home, so you're seeing them at their most vulnerable. Oh well! Concrit is unfortunately not welcome on the characterisation - I already got the outline, and it ain't changing. But we're in the home stretch guys (last chapters an epilogue, yes I already have the epilogue planned, ask me how much of a plotter I am).


	11. That Wait - Robin

Zoro was late again.

Robin fiddled with the stem of her wine glass. This time, it wasn't just five minutes. She'd been waiting there for half an hour already. She could feel the worried glances that Camie and Rika were both casting at her.

_He probably just got lost…_

Camie couldn't stand it anymore. She was going to give Zoro a piece of mind the next time he came in. She'd known the guy had a spinning internal compass, but it'd been 45 minutes already.

For now, though, she couldn't do anything to him. She could only put a steaming plate of freshly baked bread on the dark-haired woman's table. "Eat," She coaxed the older woman, who smiled at her.

When she walked by that table again, though, that freshly baked bread was just a pile of tiny shreds.

_Did he regret it?_

Rika might've been a tiny bit jealous of how elegant and gorgeous the older woman was, but she'd been genuinely happy to see Zoro so smitten with her. Even a girl like her could see it - it was soooo obvious.

She couldn't believe that smitten idiot would do something so cruel though! An hour! She'd been waiting for an hour! Rika would've just stormed out by then, but there she was, just sitting and playing with a wine glass…

The loud tinkling startled her from her thoughts, and Rika's head snapped over to the table that Zoro's girlfriend was sitting at. She nearly screamed with horror when she saw the table. White wine pooled on the crisp tablecloth and anointed the shards of broken wine glass already speckled with blood. The most terrifying thing, though, was the look on Zoro's girlfriend's face. She was staring at the crimson gash on her finger disinterestedly, like she wasn't looking at her own hand.

_Did he give up on her?_

Camie's hand shook as she grabbed the dark-haired woman's other wrist and started pulling her towards the back of the restaurant. She looked genuinely surprised that the owner was pulling her somewhere, until Camie explained, "I have a first aid kit in the back. Please come with me, Miss. That looks nasty."

"It doesn't hurt much," The older woman disagreed, not budging. She kept glancing at the door.

"Please lets at least stop the bleeding so it doesn't get on the tablecloth," Camie could only change her approach. How could that cut not hurt? If the other woman didn't need at least two stitches, Camie would count it as good luck.

"Alright," Zoro's date agreed after hesitating again, glancing at the door. She looked over to Rika, who looked scared out of her wits, poor girl. "Can you…"

Rika - she really needed to give that sensible girl a raise - came to her senses and nodded vigorously. "I'll tell him. When he gets in." Camie couldn't help but nod appreciatively at her. When. It had to be when. Zoro wasn't that kind of guy.

_Where is he?_

But when the owner came back out later with the dark haired woman, Rika's heart was in her throat. She didn't know what to tell his girlfriend. Zoro hadn't come. It'd been over an hour and a half.

_I warned him._

His girlfriend (probably soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend) stopped in the back of the restaurant, carefully scanning over all the tables, but when she looked twice and then met Rika's eyes, the light of hope went out.

_I guess he decided it was enough._

Rika's heart nearly broke for the woman. That look on her face… it looked like someone who'd run out of tears a long time ago.

_Well, that's that._

Robin sighed. Walking over to her table, she slipped a twenty-dollar bill on the table, picked up her coat and purse, and left.

* * *

**AN:**Do you hate me, or do you really hate me right now? But whatever happened to our favourite mosshead? Find out next week... maybe? This social isolation is actually giving me less time to write because I used to have a commute to write during, and now I don't. But I'm determined to finish this one! Hope you're all staying safe and healthy, and the fuck at home if that's what your local health authority is telling you :)


	12. That Lie - Sanji vs Zoro

**Dear readers: this chapter is a bit heavier than previous chapters. Please be warned, there are allusions to domestic violence. If you would like to skip this chapter, I will include a summary of this chapter at the beginning of the next chapter.**

* * *

_Took him long enough._ Sanji scowled at the door. _It'd been a month and a half. Six weeks!_ More accurately, he scowled at the wonky figure that stumbled through it. He recognized the green hair.

He watched that head turn left and right, hurriedly scanning the room, and the slight slump in his shoulder when he didn't find what he was looking for. Did he think the person he was looking for would be found so easily?_ Dream on, asshole._

Maybe for the first two weeks after Zoro'd stood her up, Robin had stopped in a few times more often than she had in the past. But after that... she hadn't gone out in a while. She didn't go back to her office, she hadn't gone to the coffee shop, and she hadn't even let him come over for brunch for a few bad weeks in the middle. She started asking him to buy her groceries for her, and he knew it was bad when she didn't eat over half the groceries the first time. He'd had to scold her quite fiercely about wasting food.

He hadn't seen any of the others, Nami, Luffy, and Usopp and them in a while. He'd be surprised if they had the shamelessness.

Sanji watched the asshole's eyes find him, and he didn't bother to hide his hostility. Except… it was the asshole's eye. Not eyes.

_How the fuck did he lose an eye?_

He was so surprised that he didn't notice Zoro made a beeline straight for the bar until he was right in front of Sanji's nose. Sanji's hostility flared again.

"Hey."

"Asshole."

"What gives?"

"You still have the nerve to ask me that?"

"Why shouldn't I ask you, pervert?"

"Because it's been six weeks, dumbass! What the hell have you been doing, skipping through the daisies?"

"No, bastard, I got caught up in a bad breakup!" Zoro scowled.

"You're damn right that was a bad breakup!" Sanji yelled

Zoro looked at him quizzically. "How do you know about Perona and her ex?"

"Perona? Who the hell is Perona?" Sanji got truly angry now, "I can't believe you already have a new girlfriend?!"

"What the hell? What new girlfriend? I have a girlfriend! Robin," Zoro also got truly angry.

"Not after you ditched her six weeks ago, you don't!"

"Ditched her? I got blown up! I've been in the hospital!"

That gave Sanji a pause. "Tell me what the hell happened. Properly. I'll probably still punch you afterward."

"I'd like to see you try, asshole," Zoro sneered.

Sanji resisted the urge to wipe that sneer off the bastard's face. "Explain, or I'll throw you out myself now."

They glared at each other, hostility rising so palpably that the other patrons at the bar gave them a wide berth. Unexpectedly, Zoro sighed and gave in first.

"Perona's the receptionist at my Kendo dojo," Zoro still looked like he'd like to wipe the floor with Sanji, but he held himself back as well. Instead, he just sat down heavily in the bar, "We were wrapping up practice, me and my coach with her hanging around, and her asshole ex-boyfriend burst in. He had a homemade bomb."

Not interrupting Zoro, Sanji poured the other man two fingers of whiskey, neat, and put it down at the bar. Zoro looked at it, then looked at Sanji who gave him a "Fuck if I care if you drink that" look.

Zoro downed it, and continued, "Fucker made her promise to date him again or he'd blow us all up, so she promised, but the fucker dropped the damn thing anyways. We all got under cover, but… well I was lucky. We were all lucky he just learned how to make the thing off the internet but failed chemistry. I got the broken arm when I pulled Perona down, and some shrapnel ricocheted and took out my eye."

"Lucky?" Sanji raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, lucky," Zoro stared into the bottom of his empty glass, "Perona's got the most… well, she's got Mihawk covering her ass now, so she's OK, and the guy is in jail, but… it was rough for a while. Robin tell you I was training for the Olympics?

When Sanji only nodded, Zoro didn't even bother to look up. He just continued talking, half to himself.

"Mihawk's my coach, so he told me pretty quickly that I was never going to be able to qualify for the regular Olympics with my eye. It… it fucked me up for a bit. I didn't talk to anyone for three weeks. Luffy and them stayed with me, but… I wanted to see Robin. But she never came."

A complicated mix of emotions rose in Sanji's heart as he listened to Zoro talk. Sympathy for the younger man - pity, even, since he looked so lost when he said the last words. Bubbling residual resentment that he let Robin stew for so long without a word, bringing that look to her face. And absolute terror, knowing what memories Zoro's incident would dredge up from the depths of Robin's nightmares. He swallowed audibly.

With that, Zoro finally met Sanji's eyes. "Let me talk to her. I want to know why she never even visited me in the hospital, at least."

Sanji stared at him, "How the hell was she supposed to visit you? You never told her!"

"Luffy left a note here! How the hell did you not give it to her?"

"Bullshit! Don't blame your own failure to communicate on me!"

"Who failed, you fucker? I was in the goddamn hospital! You must have..."

"Oh shut up. I may not like you very much, but Robin loved you, you dumbass! You broke her heart!"

Zoro stumbled back like he'd been slapped. "Wh-what?"

Sanji almost felt sorry for him, but then he remembered the look on Robin's face the last time she'd come in. He wasn't about to open her up to that again. He only glowered at the other man, who looked lost all of a sudden.

"Go home."

"No way!" Zoro roared, this time launching himself at Sanji without the least bit of regard for his injuries. "No fucking way!" They grappled over the bar, knocking a few customers' drinks over in the process. Zoro with one eye and a broken arm was still quite a challenge. Sanji finally managed to pin the other man down on his bar by grabbing a hold of his injured hand and holding it behind him, threatening to rebreak it.

"Cut your bullshit!" Zoro struggled wildly.

"Go home," Sanji repeated very quietly and very coldly. They were already over; Sanji just knew if he helped Zoro talk to Robin, it would not only rub salt in the new wounds on her heart, it would rip open some very old scars. As bad as he felt for Zoro, Robin was his best friend. He couldn't do that to her. So he lied. "Forget about her. She's forgotten about you."

Zoro glared at him like a furious beast caught in a trap, but something about the steely look in Sanji's eyes made him slowly stop struggling. When Sanji felt the last of the fight go out of him, he let Zoro go. The younger man staggered towards the door, walking slowly as if Sanji had actually managed to beat the shit out of him.

_It's too bad. He was good to her, but..._

All of a sudden, one of his bartenders distracted him by poking him urgently in the arm, "Boss…" Sanji looked at him with annoyance, "I, um, think I screwed up," He passed Sanji a piece of paper, scratching his head.

Sanji opened it. He read: "Zoro got blown up. Come to XXXX Hospital, room XXX"

_Zoro got blown up_.

Sanji wanted to break his iron rule and punch the idiotic bartender, but he knew at that moment, if he'd gotten the message when Zoro was still in the hospital, he might not have passed it on to Robin. She was already wearing that look. It was the one he remembered from when they first met.

He had been about to close his restaurant that he'd worked so hard to open and go look for another job (if he could've found one despite his shitty sperm donor's interfering) when she'd walked in off the street and sat down at the bar.

Sanji hadn't been able to say no when she'd ordered a sandwich. Her face had looked exactly like that, smooth, emotionless and mask-like, so he hadn't bothered to tell her they were closed and he was just cleaning out the restaurant. He'd gone back to his kitchen, made do with the leftovers, and set the sandwich down in front of her with a cup of coffee.

It'd been the coffee that had done it. Her facade had crumbled, and she'd broken down crying with the first sip. Somehow, they'd started talking about mothers and ended up as business partners.

Sanji knew the whole story. And he knew it wasn't his to tell. But he absolutely could not let Zoro go to Robin with a story like that, not now, not while she was so fragile. So he crumpled the paper and looked at the guy walking out his door.

He wouldn't do it.

* * *

Zoro only made it around the corner of the bar when his legs gave out from under him, and he collapsed against the brick wall in the side alley. Putting his head between his legs, he desperately tried to get a handle on the pain. His head ached like a hammer was relentlessly thumping his skull, and his heart hurt like that hammer was driving in a nail with each blow.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Zoro was about to throw it against the opposite wall of the alley because he knew it wouldn't be her, but he saw the caller ID and paused. Slowly, he swiped to accept the call.

"Zoro! Finally! What the hell! I go on a six-week business trip in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with no cell service, and you manage to get blown up? What the hell happened to you? Are you alright? Say something, you big doofus!"

A faint wash of relief came over him. He could see the slimmest ray of hope, now.

"Nami. You're back?"

"Yes, and why the hell is the first thing I hear that you discharge yourself from the hospital? Where the hell are you? I swear to god…"

"I… I need your help."

The quiet words he'd never said to her before cut off her tirade. Instantly, her voice became businesslike and pragmatic.

"With what?"

"Do… do you remember Robin's address?"

**AN:** Whew! This one was hard to write, and I think the next one will be even harder, so please be patient with me. I normally write fluffy, fluffy fluff for a reason, guys, but I'm quite proud that I managed it. We're coming to the end - thanks for sticking with me so far. As always, reviews, comments, kudos, favs, bookmarks, and demon messengers sending cakes always make my day.


	13. That Choice - Robin x Zoro

AN: In the previous chapter, Zoro went to Sanji's bar to look for Robin and reveals that he'd lost his eye and broken his arm in an explosion. Sanji refuses to help, but Zoro's not out of options just yet...

* * *

Today was an objectively good day.

Robin was almost able to believe it today. She sighed when she finally put her papers aside, her eyes falling on a full packet of information she had to get to the office. She had better go in soon - otherwise, she'd run into Nami, and she didn't think she was ready for that now.

_I better go tomorrow_. Hopefully she would be up for it tomorrow.

With another sigh, she pushed back and stretched her entire body. She looked out the window and realized that not only was it still light, it was also a beautiful day. Suddenly, a ridiculous impulse seized her, and she went with it. She went to the kitchen and pulled out some popcorn kernels and the spices for her mother's popcorn recipe, then reached into the fridge to grab a bottle of wine, any bottle of wine.

Her hand froze over one particular bottle.

_"Here. I, uh, hope you like it. I don't know anything about wine, but the store owner recommended it. I meant to get you flowers, but I forgot until we were on the road… and we couldn't find the flower shop, so the cabbie just drove me to his favourite bodega, and -"_

Her heart throbbed, and she pulled her fingers back as if they'd been singed. Shutting the door of the refrigerator, she stared at the spice mix she'd put out on the counter.

_"I'm just getting my rightful prey."_

With a scowl, she turned her back on the popcorn preparations. Robin resigned herself to a sleepless night as she turned on her kettle for another cup of coffee. She reached for the equipment for a really good cup in her cabinet, that Sanji had used the last time he'd made her brunch.

_"So... boyfriend, eh? You guys are official?"_

"This is getting out of hand," Robin snarled to herself and snatched a packet of instant coffee instead. Agitatedly, she set the kettle to boil and tried to calm herself down while she waited. When the water came to a boil, she dumped the packet into a random mug and added the water, not even bothering to mix it.

Suddenly, she felt too suffocated in her living room. She swiped a book off her kitchen table without looking at which one she grabbed, opened the locks and the chains and the deadbolt, and found herself standing in her enclosed porch, looking dazedly at her empty cul-de-sac.

It really was a nice place to sit.

Instead of thinking of the last time she'd waited on her porch, instead of thinking of the bullets that could be shot through the screen right now, she just… sat down, propped open her book, and drank her coffee.

_No thinking right now, Robin._

She started reading. It was her copy of the Canterbury tales.

_"What did I just read? Tell me!"_

_"You have to promise not to kill me. Or yourself!" _

She scowled at herself and took another sip of coffee.

_"It's not so bad like this, is it?"_

_Zoro stared at her, a bit befuddled, then reached for her again, "Hang on, it's not all gone."_

_"Robin-chan! Get a room!"_

With a muffled shriek, she slammed everything down and put her head between her knees. One tear finally escaped.

_Stop thinking stop thinking stop thinking!_

Blood and Chardonnay on shards of a broken wineglass. Zoro never arriving. Zoro turning his back on her and walking away. Zoro lying there, staring at her through a bloody face. Explosions. Screams. Hers. His. No. _Hers_. Zoro.

_Mother._

_Don't leave me!_

_Run, baby. Run and hide. Mom will be OK -_

Shouting from the entrance of the cul-de-sac pulled her out of her nightmares. Her head snapped up and hardly believed what she was seeing. Her heart fell out of her chest and _yearned_.

"You think it's this one?"

_Nami?_

"Yeah!"

_Zoro!_

She stared at a little compact pulling into the cul-de-sac. She recognized it from the Institute's parking lot. It was so quiet, and they had the windows rolled down, that she could hear every detail of the conversation.

"But which number is it?"

"I have no idea! I'll just knock on each one until she answers the door."

"If you say so. I'll keep track of which ones you've already tried."

As Zoro got out of the car, Robin's heart fell back into her chest, and she stood up, still unable to tear her eyes from his form.

_No no no no, I can't deal with this now._

_Oh god, I miss him._

As if he'd heard her, as if their eyes met through the screen again, as if his heart reached for her too, he started walking directly to her screened-in porch.

_I can't deal with this now._ Coming to her senses, she quickly grabbed her coffee mug and book and ran back to her door like her demons were chasing after her. She turned all three locks, slammed the deadbolt, and put on the chain in a rush, her hands shaking so much, she spilled the coffee in her front lobby. With a sigh, she sat down with her back against the door, head between her legs once again.

_Thump thump thump_ The door shook against her back and she jumped, moving away from it like it was on fire.

"Robin?" His voice was muffled through the door.

_Banging on the door made Nico Olivia freeze before she thrust a bag into eighteen-year-old Robin's hands and started shoving her daughter towards the basement of the house, where an escape passage had been dug. "They found us There's no time. Go, Robin. You must live."_

_Thump thump thump_. "Robin, I know you're in there."

"Go away!" She yelled as past and present mingled in her mind, "Stop pounding on my door!" This time there was no one there to push her out the secret door. This time, she probably wouldn't die if she opened the door. But if she opened the door, she would hurt.

The knocking stopped. She breathed a sigh of relief.

_He was gone._

Her heart started throbbing again, like an old wound had been ripped open.

_He was gone._

Another tear fell, creating a perfectly circular mark on her jeans.

"Robin… Please. I'm begging you." the whisper was hoarse on the other side of the door. Her head jerked up. Zoro would never beg.

Scrambling, she stood up and looked through her peephole and nearly stumbled back from what she saw. In a panic, without thinking, she fumbled her way through her locks, undoing her deadbolt, and tried to yank her door open, but she'd forgotten the chain lock and nearly wrenched her shoulder out of her socket when her door didn't budge.

"Wait a minute," Her voice didn't sound like the one she knew. It was strained and trembling a little. She closed the door, removed the chain lock, and flung it open again to look straight into Zoro's astonished face, throwing her arms around him. He caught her anyways with his one good arm, burying his face into the crook of her neck.

She clung to him for dear life. He clung onto her like he was afraid she was going to disappear.

"What happened to you!?" She asked, leaning back and cupping his face. His eye was _gone._

"I… I was in an explosion," Zoro said hesitantly. Her hands froze on either side of his face as her demons dragged her under.

_"Hide in the escape tunnel, baby. Don't come out until it's safe. Saul will be waiting for you on the other side. Bring these papers to Dragon. I love you."_

_"No! I don't want to go! I can't leave you!" Robin wanted to scream but her mother covered her mouth to muffle her sound._

_"You must. You must go and live on. They've found us, but History cannot be destroyed, Robin. I have to entrust this to you."_

_A dark corridor. Shouting above her head. Her own footsteps as she ran away._

_An eerie silence…. BOOM! The wind roared above her and the world shook around her._

_The end of the hallway. A steel door. Waiting for Saul. When that damn phone rang, she picked it up with trembling hands._

_His voice was hurried and muffled. "Robin-chan. Go back. Hide near the entrance to the tunnel, it's not safe. I'm sorry. Keep laughing. Someday you will meet brave friends who will protect you. Go and live with them Robin."_

_She stumbled away from the door, heading back towards the smell of smoke and fire._

_Gunshots behind her._

_"DERESHISHISHI!"_

"Robin!" Zoro shook her shoulders roughly. Her hands were still locked around his face, and her eyes were glassy with shock. She gasped as her demons released her, face white as paper.

"Robin! C'mon, let's get you inside," Zoro nudged her back towards her entrance way step by step. She didn't fight him, letting him lead her into her house, lock the doors with all three locks, the deadbolt and the chainbolt, and settle her on the couch in her living room. He sat down beside her.

"Robin."

"I'm sorry," She said at nearly the same time.

"Don't," He caught her hands, needing to touch her.

"I'm sorry," She said it again anyway.

"Hey," He tried to stop her.

"What happened to you?" She asked, trying to get a grip on herself. She gave him a small smile to reassure him, but she could tell by the furrows between his eyes that he was still worried.

"Someone tried to blow up my coworker. I got hit by the shrapnel and was laid up for six weeks. I just got out of the hospital. Luffy tried to leave you a message at Sanji's bar, but somehow it got lost," He explained as bluntly as he always was, his face never changing when her hands tightened painfully around his and her nails dug into his flesh.

She tried to smile like always, but the corners of her mouth were wobbly, "Oh Zoro. Does it hurt very badly?"

"My eye and arm are almost totally healed now. It doesn't hurt any more." He reached over to tuck one long lock of hair behind her ear, but his hand froze, "I'm sorry I stood you up."

"It's okay. You were in the hospital," She brushed it off, but still withdrew from him. She couldn't bear to see the light of hope in his eyes go out, "but… I think we should stop seeing each other."

She'd realized something over the past six weeks. Loving him _hurt._ She didn't know when her feelings had become love, but she knew that if she hadn't loved him, it wouldn't have hurt so badly.

_I can't do this again._

She waited for him to say something.

Anything.

"...OK," Zoro closed his eyes, "But before I leave, tell me why. If it wasn't because I stood you up… I need to know."

She blinked at him. _Didn't he give up a bit too easily?_ A sense of unease filled her heart.

But she owed him this much. He deserved this much.

"I… I told you that I work for the same place Nami does, right? I research the void century," She started hesitantly. He looked surprised that she started there, but nodded. She remembered their first date. "These days, it's not… as contentious an issue. The information is released slowly to the public, but scholarly debate is allowed and encouraged happens. The government considers it an important piece of history. President Dragon himself takes an interest."

Unconsciously, her hand began to rub her other arm, "The previous official opposition… didn't. They declared that the knowledge was dangerous, and it could destroy our society. They had an extremist group, the… the Marines. They called themselves the Marines."

Zoro started. He'd heard of the Marines, had been scared by them as a very small child. If he didn't eat his vegetables, the Marines would come to take him away. That kind of thing. He hadn't realized they'd been an actual group.

"My mother… was their prime assassination target. She was the loudest advocate for uncovering the history of the void century. I grew up with it. We were constantly on the run, constantly looking over our shoulder, and constantly researching and compiling," Her lips started to curve, remembering those terrifying days, but Zoro couldn't tell if she was actually happy about it.

"Was?" Zoro prompted her instead. "Your mother…"

"Is dead," Robin said those words in a rush of air. It still hurt to think of her beautiful mother, after all this time, "I… I had a rebellious period. I'd never been allowed a cellphone, but I saved my allowance and bought a very early one - it could just about go on the internet, call, text. Basic stuff. My mother didn't know about it. I just wanted a friend so badly. I used it to make one friend, just exchanged numbers with a guy on a forum that I'd spent time talking to."

The words wouldn't come out now. Then again, no one liked admitting they'd killed their own mother.

"They found us, somehow, through my phone. Turns out the guy I'd been talking to was also a Marine, and before we'd gotten to be friends, he told the extremist group that he thought I had an unsecured device. His name was Saul." The smile for her silly childishness didn't go away, but tears began to drip down her face without her noticing again. She stared forward, her hands clutched tightly in her lap, "After we became friends, he… he had a change of heart. He confessed who he was to me, told me to warn my mother, told us to run. But they found us anyways."

She didn't even notice when Zoro came over to wipe her tears for her.

"My mother and Saul both died to save me. They hid me in an escape tunnel, Saul pretended he'd killed me and left the body in the house that blew up as they shot him for being a traitor, because he didn't have the order, while my mother took down the men who came for her, dying with them in the explosion. I… I hid in that tunnel. I stayed there until President Dragon himself came for me. It took three days."

"The opposition party was in shambles. The incident was enough for a purge, but because of the identities of some of the people involved, it was hushed up. The government hunted the Marines for being terrorists. And my mother was canonized as a Hero, but a hero no one could know about." Robin finally moved, taking a tissue to wipe her own tears. Zoro sat back, not touching her now. She looked so fragile.

And I… was the inconvenient loose end. The victim no one could know about," The smile on Robin's face finally looked less stiff now, "They gave me money. Lots of it. I bought the house and invested in Sanji's bar with some of it. The house is under a pseudonym, and Sanji's the only bar owner on paper. I trust him that he'll keep it safe. I don't have to work any more. But the fact that they gave me a safe space at the institute, gave me the tools to continue my mother's work means everything to me."

Robin's voice was nearly a whisper now, "And they let me hide. I can be anonymous if I work for the institute. If any splinter cells of the Marines still exists, if the previous opposition party comes into power because the world has gone insane, I can disappear, and it's like I never existed. I can be safe."

She finally looked at him, and smiled sadly, "And that's why I think we should stop seeing each other, Zoro. You scare me. This scares me. You mean too much to me. I can chase my mother's dream, I can stay on the anonymous side, I can pack up and run away at a moment's notice, but I can't make you do that. I can't ask that of you. I can't make you live with my inability to trust the internet or cellular communications."

"Robin," His cool voice made her close her mouth. He finally touched her now, holding just her hands again, "When was the last sign of any activity from the Marines?"

"Eight years ago. The government keeps me abreast of it. Eight years ago, a radicalized child of a former Marine tried to send a pipe bomb to the institute. He was acting on his own, and the pipe bomb was diffused, but..."

"So no serious organizational activity since your mother died?" Zoro cut her off again.

"None."

"So there's no known danger, but you live your life like there might be?"

"That's not fair."

"Have you spoken to someone about it?"

"I'm not crazy!"

"I'm not saying you are," She finally saw hints of temper on his face, "If you'd had a leg blown off in that explosion, I wouldn't be calling you insane if I asked if you went to go see a doctor. You saw your mother and first friend die in front of you. That's a heart wound if I've ever seen one."

"I…" Robin didn't have an answer to that one.

He hesitated before he asked his next question, "Is Nami safe?"

She blinked, but then felt slightly ashamed of herself, "Yes. As a new grad, she doesn't have any association with and doesn't travel under the aegis of the institute, but another government institution. She's not even employed by the institute on paper. She travels with bodyguards when she visits sites, too. His name is Franky. He's hilarious but very capable."

"Okay then," He got up. Her heart started to pound again.

"Okay?" Robin blurted out, "That's it?"

He looked at her and said calmly, without any emotions, "I love you, Robin. I love you so much that when I was lying in that hospital bed, what got me out of bed and into physio wasn't the thought of being able to get back to my students or go for the Olympics again, it was so I could see you smile again. It fucking broke my heart when you didn't come find me, but I trusted you. I trusted that something must have happened and that you'd be relieved when you saw me again. I trusted that we'd make it work somehow again."

"But I can't make you love me enough to trust me to stay. I can't make you love me enough to choose me over fear. I can't make you love me enough to let me work through this with you. I can't make you love me enough to try."

He stopped, took a deep breath before he continued, each word falling like a stone in her heart, "So okay. Let's stop seeing each other."

Her smile had disappeared now. She couldn't hold onto it. "It's not that simple, Zoro."

"It's not that complicated, Robin," He said. She looked so lost that he couldn't help himself, and reached forward to brush her hair behind her ears. The little gesture made her look at him, startled.

"Nami once said something very smart to me. Love isn't a feeling, it's a choice," He smiled at her, just the barest quirk of the lips, "normal couples have to make that choice too, no matter what else they have in their lives. But if I'm willing to make that choice, and you're not, I'd rather stop seeing each other."

He took a deep breath, before he admitted, "Because I will probably choose to love you until the day I die."

She simply looked at him, for a second that was an eternity, and saw the simple truth of that in his eyes. He chose her. What had she chosen over him? Fear? Terror? Was it worth it? Was that really the choice she wanted to make?

In the next second, when he let go of her hands to get up to leave, she panicked and grabbed for his uninjured hand again. He looked back at her in surprise.

But he didn't shake off her hands.

She held that rough hand, callused from years of hardwork and sword play, like it was her lifeline to the present and to the future. Her mother's and Saul's last words echoed in her head

"_Someday you will meet brave friends who will protect you. Go and live with them Robin."_

"_Go, Robin. You must live."_

Was she really living if she let fear make her choices?

"Robin?"

He made it sound so easy. Was it really so simple?

"I… I want to try. I want to choose to love you." When the words came out of her mouth, it felt like a great weight was lifted off her heart. A new door opened in front of her, and she walked unhesitatingly forward. _Yes. This is right._

Zoro stared intently at her, waiting. _What was he waiting for?_

"Why, Robin?" He asked her.

She felt stumped. _What did he mean, why?_

"Is it because you're scared to be alone?" He asked.

"No!" She cried out, worried he'd actually think that. She only saw him still looking intently at her, "I want to be with you. When you make it sound so simple… I… I didn't think about it like that. I don't want to choose fear. I want to live, and you make me feel so alive."

She took a deep breath and looked up to his face, the one she'd traced in her dreams so often, "I love you."

In the next instant, she was in his arms again, and this time she didn't hold back and clung onto him with all her might. She cried, now, whispering incoherent words into his ear. Something about being afraid, something about being sorry, something about loving him. He didn't say anything, letting her cry it all out on his shoulder, burying his face in hers while he stroked her hair. When she finally stopped crying and babbling long enough to look at him again, this beautiful, wonderful man who she'd chosen over her worst nightmares, her heart finally settled in place.

_This is how it should be._

"I'll do it. I'll choose you. I'll try."

The look on Zoro's face was indescribably tender as he cupped her face and tilted her head so he could lean his forehead against hers. Just before their lips met, softly, gently, for the last first time, she felt him whisper against hers.

"Thank you."

* * *

**AN: **And that's the end! Thank you for joining me on this crazy journey that started with a drunken dare and ended with this choice. I hope you enjoyed it! Honestly when I wrote the first chapter, I didn't think I'd end up with this kind of ending, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Please be gentle with the critiques - I don't write angst that often. As always, comments, reviews, kudos, favourites, bookmarks, and secret diary entries make my day.

We may be leaving Zoro and Robin here for now, but I'll see you tomorrow with the short and sweet Nami x Sanji epilogue. Now 'scuse me, it's late and I gotta pass out. See you soon!


	14. That Kiss - Nami x Sanji

"I have a bone to pick with you." Nami stood at the door of the bar with her hands on her hips, her face terrible like an avenging angel descending.

She'd had purposely chosen a Saturday morning to confront this absolute _idiot_. It'd taken her four weeks to find the opening, four weeks of reconnoitering and snooping to figure out when he'd be alone in the bar, but this morning, she'd managed it. The door was unlocked to receive deliveries, but the bar was empty, besides a certain blond bartender.

So Nami stormed the castle.

Sanji had been standing with his back to the door, organizing something behind the counter. She saw his back stiffen when he heard her voice and watched as he slowly turned to face her.

"Nami-san," He smiled a bit stiffly, "I didn't expect to see you here, now."

"You should have, buster, because I'm so mad with you," She snarled.

He thought back to last weekend, when they'd both visited Robin's house with Zoro to watch a movie together. It'd been meant to be a peace summit, of sorts. It had been…. awkward.

"Robin may have forgiven you, but I sure as hell haven't." In long strides, she crossed the floor of the restaurant, yelling at him the whole way. "How _dare_ you try to get between the two of them like that? Would it have just killed you to pass on a message or say something? Anything?"

Sanji's face darkened, "Look, Nami-san, I know Zoro's your best friend, but -"

"You're damn right he's my best friend! But I wouldn't treat a stray dog the way you treated Zoro! He was still injured, for crying out loud!" She yelled back at him.

"-But Robin is my best friend," Sanji continued as if she hadn't interrupted him. That got her to stop like nothing else would, "You didn't see her in the weeks when Zoro didn't contact her. I did." He obviously didn't want to continue, thinking about the way Robin had looked during those weeks. He wasn't sure how to explain it to Nami, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"She was finally getting back to eating properly again," He said instead, "I wasn't going to open her up to it again. So while I understand that you feel protective of Zoro, you need to understand that I feel protective of Robin. If she'd taken the initiative to ask me about him, I would've told her, but I wasn't going to re-open those wounds without her permission."

Nami opened her mouth to argue, but when she started to think about his point of view, she closed it again. When she'd driven Zoro to Robin's house that night, she hadn't thought about how Robin might have felt about seeing him again, nor did she think about the fact that she'd betrayed the other woman's trust by remembering her address. Luckily, it had worked out… somehow, but nevermind her friendship with the other woman, her working relationship with Robin might've gone very badly.

Nami knew deep in her heart, though, if it had gone badly, she still wouldn't have regretted doing what she did that afternoon. She'd done it out of friendship. And knowing that, she couldn't really stay angry at Sanji any more.

She sighed and put down her purse. "Can I have a glass of water?"

Her rapid aboutface made Sanji blink, "Sure?"

"I'm not apologizing for yelling at you," She scowled at him, "But I'm not mad at you any more."

Sanji stared at the cute girl very deliberately not looking at him, before he turned away with a small smile to get her that glass. _This girl is really..._

"And all's well that ends well," Nami said to his back, watching as he moved with smooth professional grace behind the bar. _So what if I'm taking the chance to ogle his butt?_

Sanji paused infinitesimally, but turned around to fill the glass at the sink anyways. "Mm," He said noncommittally.

"What?" she raised an eyebrow at him, "Jealous? Don't tell me you secretly have the hots for Robin."

Sanji nearly sloshed the water out of the cup when he slammed it down in front of her. "No! Don't get the wrong idea and cause trouble for the two of them."

Nami snorted, but she still eyed him suspiciously.

"Don't look at me like that! Robin and I are just friends. She's happy with Zoro, for all I can't tell what she sees in that Marimo," Sanji said, his ears turning bright red, "Robin's pretty much my only female friend. I just want her to be happy."

An unfamiliar, unpleasant feeling rose in Nami's heart, as she tried to keep her tone light and teasing, "Only female friend, eh? Gosh Sanji-kun, what am I? Chopped liver?"

"No!" Sanji realized that he'd put his foot in his mouth, "I-I don't - Chopped liver is tasty with some garlic, I mean - We're friends! I j-just."

"Well, fine," Nami picked up her purse as if she was getting ready to go. "I don't want to be your friend either."

Sanji really panicked when she said that and recklessly jumped the bar to stop her from leaving, "Nami-san, don't go. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to- Mmph!"

She took him by surprise when, instead of turning to leave like he expected her to, she spun around on her heel and pushed him against the bar, taking his lips in a ferocious kiss. He froze, his head spinning, as she plundered his mouth aggressively, her clumsy tongue battling with his, sending little shivers down his back, straight to his groin. Her teeth accidentally scraped against his lower lip, drawing blood. He didn't care. Months of underlying sexual tension poured out of him at this moment when he started kissing her back, igniting an inferno inside him.

She tasted sweeter than dessert wine and was infinitely more intoxicating

When she finally drew back with a fierce grin, he was still drunk on her lips, so much so that he almost didn't hear what she said next.

"If we're not friends, I don't have to worry about ruining our friendship. I've always wanted to do that. "

* * *

**AN:** And we're done! Thank you so much to everyone who's joined me on this crazy ride that started with what was supposed to be a one-shot and ended fourteen chapters later, just over a year ago. Your patience and support has gotten me through it, and I appreciate every single one of you who has taken the time to check in when a new chapter updates, fav or kudo or leave internet points in one way or another, or leave me a note. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have.

As for what's next for me... I don't know, at least not in the OP-verse. There's the continuation to The Kissing Contest (I'm thinking I'll end up writing both a zorobin and a frobin extension for that one), the M rated scene of Zoro and Robin's first time (Still need the smut-o-meter to go back up for that one), and half a million other plot bunnies bouncing around in the background. I even have a Sanji x Nami sequel in mind for this fic, but that's very very early stages plot bun breeding. I have another long fic in the works right now (Naruto, Sasuke x Sakura meet in an MMO fic if that's your jam). All that to say is that I don't know when I'll see you again, but I know I'll see you eventually. Until we meet again, stay safe and stay healthy.


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